CHELSEA 

CURTIS 

FRAS  E  R 


OF  CALIF.  LWRARY.  LOfl 


' 


SECRETS  OF  THE 
EARTH 


BY 

CHELSEA  CURTIS  FRASER 

Author  of  "The  Young  Citizen's  Own  Book," 
"Boys'  Boole  of  Sea  Fights,"  etc. 


"Look,"  said  God, 

And  with  fingers  slow, 

Drew  away  the  mantle  rock. 

Man  followed,  groping, 

To  touch  the  flesh  of  his  true  mother; 

And  standing  in  great  valleys, 

He  saw  the  ages  passing. 

JAS£T    LOXLEY    LEWIS 


NEW  YORK 

THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


COPYBIQHT,    1921, 

BT  THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 


Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


TO 


A  STURDY  LITTLE  ROCK 
BEARING  FINE   ORE 


2129787 


PREFACE 

WE  all  have  that  human  characteristic  of 
loving  to  delve  into  secrets,  especially 
such  rare,  soul-stirring  secrets  as  are 
hidden  in  the  great  treasure-chest  of  the  world 
beneath  our  feet.  At  first  those  treasures  were 
shrouded  in  ignorance  or  superstition,  but  as  the 
years  have  gone  by  and  merged  into  centuries, 
pick  and  shovel,  dynamite  and  ingenuity,  have 
tapped  into  these  valuable  and  wonderful  stores, 
and  the  world  has  prospered  as  a  result.  But  in 
all  these  ages,  geologists  and  miners  have  merely 
dug  out  small  pockets  of  the  vast  mineral  wealth 
which  apparently  exists  for  future  generations 
to  garner,  study,  and  utilize.  Geology  as  a 
science  is  still  comparatively  young,  still  in 
knickerbockers,  but  rapidly  becoming  a  lusty 
youngster  whose  power  the  coming  races  will 
enthrone. 

In  preparing  this  volume,  it  has  been  the 
author's  purpose  to  present,  not  a  technical 
treatise  on  geology,  but  rather  certain  phases 
of  the  subject  and  its  related  industries,  which 
are  of  most  interest  to  young  readers.  Every 
care  has  been  taken  to  give  only  reliable  informa- 
tion; and  in  order  to  add  spice  some  actual  inci- 
dents and  anecdotes  have  been  judiciously  used. 


It  is  hoped  that  this  small  contribution  to 
popular  geology  will  awaken  for  its  readers  a 
new  and  abiding  respect  for  the  wonders  be- 
neath us;  and  that  it  will  result  in  a  further 
reading  on  the  subject,  indeed  if  not  some  per- 
sonal investigations  and  the  thrilling  touch  of 
hand  against  rock  itself.  While  addressed  to 
young  readers,  there  is  also  the  hope  that  older 
people,  even  those  who  are  already  deep  in  the 
study  of  this  captivating  science,  may  find  the 
contents  helpful  as  supplementary  reading. 

C.  C.  F. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    THE  STORY  OF  COAL 1 

II  SOME  BY-PRODUCTS  OF  COAL      ...  19 

III  OIL,  THE  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  GIANT     .      .  27 

IV  IRON  ORE,  THE  WORLD'S  RICHEST  MINERAL  48 
V  WHERE  COPPER  Is  KING       ....  69 

VI    THE  WONDERS  OF  GOLD 85 

VII    THE  STORY  OF  SILVER 106 

VIII  DIAMOND,  THE  KING  OF  GEMS    .      .      .  118 

IX  LEAD,  FATHER  OF  BULLETS    ....  140 

X  GRAPHITE,  BACKBONE  OF  PENCILS     .      .  150 

XI  LIMESTONE,  EVERY  MAN'S  FRIEND     .      .  164 

XII    LITTLE  GRAINS  OF  SAND 173 

XIII  LITTLE  LUMPS  OF  CLAY       ....  188 

XIV  "THE  SALT  OF  THE  EARTH"  .      .      .      .199 
XV  SOME  RARE  MINERALS                               .  217 


Secrets  of  the  Earth 


THE  STORY  OF  COAL 

COAL  has  come  to  be  one  of  our  commonest 
and  most  useful  products.     Yet,  a  com- 
paratively few  years  ago  it  lay  neglected 
in  the  earth.     What,  then,  is  it  and  how  is  it 
obtained  ? 

Geology  tells  us  that  during  the  Carbonif- 
erous Period  plants  of  all  kinds  grew  rank  and 
luxuriant,  covering  practically  the  whole  world, 
because  of  the  same  sort  of  moist,  warm  air  on 
which  to  thrive.  Ferns  grew,  not  knee-high  as 
now,  but  into  great  soft-bodied  trees  which 
would  fill  a  good-sized  room.  The  graceful, 
feathery  staghorn  moss  then  straggled  all  over 
the  swampy  world,  with  stems  as  thick  as  your 
body,  and  sent  up  big  branches  as  high  as  fifty 
feet.  Then  there  were  the  horsetails,  which 
grew  into  great  forests,  and  which  were  festooned 
so  thickly  with  creeping  plants  that  you  could 

1 


2         SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

not  have  forced  your  way  through,  even  with  an 
axe,  in  years. 

In  fact,  all  vegetable  life  was  big  and  fat 
and  juicy  and  lazy  and  stupid  in  those  days. 
The  plants  were  of  a  very  low  form  of  life,  lack- 
ing "backbone"  to  make  them  lasting.  Hardly 
any  of  them  had  flowers.  Some  were  so  ugly 
and  shapeless  that  you  could  not  have  told  leaf 
from  stem,  or  stem  from  branch.  Parts  just 
ran  together,  like  a  mass  of  spilled  jelly.  No 
matter  where  you  stood,  whether  in  what  is  now 
Iceland,  or  what  is  now  Africa,  you  would  have 
thought  yourself  in  a  vast  hothouse.  The  air 
was  almost  suffocating,  and  filled  always  with 
the  odor  of  great  beds  of  decaying  vegetable 
matter.  You  could  not  see  more  than  a  few  hun- 
dred rods  because  of  the  mist  of  steam  always 
hanging  over  everything. 

From  time  to  time  the  folding  of  the  earth's 
crust  created  hollow  places  in  its  surface — hol- 
low places  filled  with  layers  of  these  decaying 
giant  plants.  And  water  rushed  in  and  filled 
these  depressions,  carrying  much  sand  and  clay 
upon  the  dead  and  dying  vegetable  matter.  This 
dampness  and  immense  weight  hastened  greatly 
the  natural  decay  of  the  woody  plants. 

When  wood  decays,  a  substance  in  it  called 
carbon  mixes  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  a  pro- 
cess very  similar  to  burning  dry  wood  by  touch- 


THE    STORY   OF   COAL  3 

ing  a  match  to  it.  In  either  case,  the  carbon  is 
freed  from  the  plant,  and  what  remains  of  the 
former  woody  fiber — ashes  composed  of  salts  of 
potash  and  silica  and  lime — unite  with  other 
earthen  chemicals  to  form  new  bodies. 

In  the  case  of  coal  formation,  the  water  and 
earth  covering  over  the  decaying  plants  kept  in 
much  of  the  carbon,  just  as  covering  over  a 
piece  of  dry  wood  when  we  burn  it  does  the 
same,  leaving  the  remains  black  and  large  (like 
charcoal)  and  not  reducing  it  far  enough  to 
bring  it  to  white,  loose  ashes. 

This  is  the  way  coal  was  made.  Some  of  the 
layers,  or  strata,  are  fifty  or  sixty  feet  thick, 
while  others  are  no  thicker  than  cardboard.  On 
top  of  each  layer  is  a  stratum  of  sandstone  or 
dark-gray  shale,  which  was  made  by  the  sand 
and  mud  washed  in  by  the  water  when  the  plants 
were  on  top  of  the  earth.  These  shaly  rocks 
split  easily,  and  in  them  man  has  found  many 
interesting  fossil  impressions  of  the  ferns  which 
later  turned  into  coal.  How  strange  that  a  little 
thing  this  way,  in  changing  into  something  else, 
should  leave  behind  its  everlasting  former  por- 
trait— the  picture  to  tell  what  it  looked  like, 
where  it  came  from,  and  what  it  eventually 
changed  into!  May  we  be  careful  of  our  own 
growth  and  every-day  actions  so  that  the  im- 
pression we  leave  behind  us  on  our  fellow  beings 


4         SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

will  speak  as  loudly  as  the  fern  of  having  lived 
to  make  the  world  better  and  more  comfortable ! 

After  the  coal  seams  were  formed  in  the 
earth,  what  should  occur  from  time  to  time  but 
heavy  wrinklings  of  the  earth's  crust.  These 
contortions  brought  some  of  the  coal  seams  to 
the  top  of  the  ground.  The  savages  were  the 
first  to  discover  that  the  strange,  black  lumps  of 
rock  would  burn  and  give  forth  a  delightful  heat ; 
but  the  white  man  was  the  first  really  to  make 
much  use  of  coal.  When  a  vein  of  coal  cropped 
out  on  a  white  man's  farm,  he  broke  some  of  it 
up  with  a  maul,  shoveled  it  into  his  wheelbarrow, 
and  trundled  it  home.  After  a  while  hundreds 
of  people  wanted  coal,  then  thousands,  and  now 
millions  depend  upon  it  almost  entirely  for  their 
fuel  and  comfort  in  cold  weather. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  coal  to-day  is  easily 
the  "big  chief"  of  all  the  underground  tribe  of 
minerals.  Coal's  importance  to  the  whole  world 
far  eclipses  any  other  product  of  this  great  rocky 
crust  on  which  we  live.  In  peace,  in  industry, 
in  war,  the  nation  which  has  the  greatest  abun- 
dance of  coal  is  the  strongest  and  best  off.  We 
had  a  strong  lesson  of  this  during  the  late  World 
War,  when  Germany's  forcible  possession  of  the 
great  coal-fields  in  northern  France  came  very 
near  to  bringing  triumph  to  the  kaiser's  invaders. 
We  know  it  right  here  in  America  at  the  present 


THE    STORY    OF    COAL  5 

time  when,  because  of  miners'  strikes  and  a  short- 
age of  cars,  many  homes  are  cold  and  cheerless, 
and  great  industries  are  shut  down,  causing  much 
want  and  suffering. 

Yes,  75  per  cent  of  the  total  weight  of  minerals 
taken  out  of  the  earth  is  coal.  Geologists  tell 
us  that  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption,  the 
supply  of  the  world's  coal,  which  is  easily  obtain- 
able, will  be  gone  in  200  years.  This  might  make 
us  shudder,  but  for  the  cheering  thought  that 
none  of  us  will  be  alive  then,  and  that  the  fertile 
brains  of  those  to  succeed  us  will  undoubtedly 
scheme  out  some  new  form  of  fuel  equally  as 
good  or  better. 

This  mineral,  used  as  a  fuel,  was  first  men- 
tioned by  Theophrastus  about  300  B.  C.,  so  we 
may  guess  that  coal  was  dug  up  previous  even 
to  that  early  date.  Excavations  in  England 
brought  forth  flint  axes  and  mauls  embedded  in 
layers  of  coal,  which  would  indicate  that  work- 
men of  the  Stone  Age  might  have  known  of 
its  heating  properties  and  used  them.  And  the 
fact  that  coal  clinkers  or  cinders  have  been  found 
in  old  Roman  walls,  together  with  Roman  tools 
for  breaking  up  rock,  goes  to  prove  that  coal 
was  used  for  warmth  prior  to  the  Saxon  inva- 
sion. 

The  first  charter  granting  permission  to  dig 
and  gather  coal  was  issued  to  the  freemen  of 


6         SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Newcastle,  England,  in  1239,  who  were  to  take 
out  coal  in  those  fields.  The  real  history  of  coal 
as  an  important  mineral  product  may  be  said 
to  have  begun  at  this  time.  In  America,  the 
first  discovery  of  coal  was  made  at  Ottawa,  Illi- 
nois, but  the  first  mine  was  not  opened  until 
1751,  at  Richmond,  Virginia.  In  1792,  coal  was 
found  by  Nicho  Allen,  near  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania. 

In  regard  to  the  latter  discovery,  it  is  said  that 
Allen  encamped  one  night,  and  built  his  fire 
upon  some  small  black  stones  that  lay  scattered 
about  in  profusion.  Having  cooked  his  supper, 
he  went  to  sleep.  He  was  awakened  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  by  intense  heat,  and  found 
himself  lying  in  a  circle  of  flames.  His  fire  had 
ignited  the  "stones"  under  the  brands,  and  these 
had  fired  those  immediately  around  until  he  had 
been  encompassed.  It  was  with  difficulty  that 
he  escaped.  He  told  his  story  far  and  wide,  and 
afterwards  a  company  was  organized  to  mine 
and  ship  the  "black  stones"  to  Philadelphia. 

Colonel  Shoemaker,  a  worthy  colonial  gentle- 
man, was  at  the  head  of  the  enterprise.  Upon 
his  recommendation  most  of  the  first  consign- 
ment of  100  tons  was  sold  to  the  city  for  use 
in  the  pumping  works.  The  Philadelphia  engi- 
neers did  not  understand  how  to  burn  it,  and 
after  several  unsatisfactory  attempts,  broke  it 


THE    STORY   OF   COAL  7 

up  and  threw  it  about  the  yards  for  gravel.  A 
feeling  of  indignation  against  Colonel  Shoe- 
maker arose,  and  he  was  denounced  as  a  rascal 
for  having  sold  the  city  rocks  instead  of  fuel ! 

In  1814,  two  ark  loads  of  large  lumps  of  coal 
(twenty-one  lumps  to  a  ton)  were  sold  at  the 
falls  of  Schuylkill.  A  whole  morning  was  wasted 
in  futile  attempts  to  burn  this,  and  at  noon,  the 
employer  and  his  workmen,  discouraged  at  their 
ill  luck,  shut  up  the  furnace  and  went  to  dinner. 
On  their  return  they  were  astonished  to  find  a 
roaring  fire,  the  furnace  doors  red-hot  and  the 
furnace  itself  in  danger  of  melting  down.  From 
that  day  dates  the  successful  use  of  anthracite 
(hard)  coal  in  America. 

Now  there  are  many  hard  and  soft  coal  (bitu- 
minous) mines  in  operation  over  the  face  of  the 
globe.  In  some  places  the  coal  layers  are  hori- 
zontal, and  crop  out  wherever  they  pass  through 
a  hill.  In  other  places  they  cannot  be  seen,  but 
are  very  close  to  the  surface,  and  very  little  dig- 
ging is  necessary  to  uncover  them.  As  a  rule, 
however,  the  coal  seams  run  diagonally  through 
the  earth's  crust,  outcropping  at  the  surface  and 
slanting  downward,  and  this  requires  deep  shafts 
and  radiating  tunnels  for  the  working  of  them. 

Suppose  you  are  invited  to  visit  one  of  these 
deep-shaft  mines?  You  will  go  up  to  the  mine 
bravely  enough,  but  when  you  look  down  into  the 


8         SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

great  black  well  of  the  shaft,  which  may  be  as 
deep  as  a  big  city  skyscraper,  your  heart  begins 
to  jump  in  a  way  to  make  you  feel  weak.  But 
the  cage,  or  elevator,  soon  comes  up,  and  you 
get  in  with  a  bunch  of  miners  and  go  down, 
down,  down,  down,  into  that  Styx-like  maw,  past 
one  "level"  or  tunnel,  then  another,  and  another, 
all  marked  by  a  ghostly  looking  oil  or  electric 
light,  until  you  come  to  a  stop. 

"Lower  level;  all  out!"  calls  the  grimy  lift- 
boy; and  together  with  the  few  who  are  left  in 
the  cage,  you  step  forth  into  a  dimly  lighted 
passage.  The  air  is  so  damp  and  cold  that  you 
gather  your  coat  a  little  closer  about  you.  You 
notice  a  group  of  miners  standing  near,  some  of 
whom  are  already  crowding  into  the  lift  for  its 
return  journey.  Their  day's  work,  their  shift, 
is  over.  The  fresh-faced,  clean- jacketed  men 
who  came  down  with  you  are  to  take  their  places. 
The  new  miners  start  off  down  the  level,  gayly 
laughing  and  joking;  the  old  miners  are  more 
quiet,  and  look  very  tired.  How  dirty  they  are! 
It  is  hard  for  you  to  tell  whether  they  are  whites 
or  Negroes.  Their  hands,  faces,  overalls,  are  all 
black  with  coal  dust.  On  the  cap  of  each  is 
mounted  a  small  lamp,  surrounded  by  a  screen, 
which  throws  a  faint  gleam  of  light  around  him, 
showing  him  where  the  black  walls  are,  and 
causing  the  hard  ebony  diamonds  in  the  latter 


THE    STORY    OF    COAL  9 

to  glisten  and  sparkle  brightly.  The  screen  about 
the  lamp  protects  the  flame  from  direct  contact 
with  the  inflammable  gases,  which  are  frequently 
found  in  mines,  and  goes  far  to  avert  the  danger 
of  an  explosion.  Such  explosions  have  often 
thrown  down  enough  rock  to  block  up  a  passage 
and  imprison  the  men  behind. 

The  dust-covered  glasses  of  the  few  electric 
lights  about  you  shut  out  most  of  the  light,  but 
you  notice  that  the  roof  is  low,  and  that  all  along 
the  sides  the  tunnel  is  supported  by  heavy  posts 
across  the  tops  of  which  are  strong  timbers  to 
keep  the  roof  from  caving  in.  At  your  feet,  the 
earth  is  muddy  and  damp.  In  this  ooze  two  shin- 
ing lines  of  silver,  on  top  of  ties,  show  where 
tracks  are  laid.  These  run  off  in  the  distance 
till  they  look  no  larger  than  fine  threads  and 
are  swallowed  up  in  the  noisome  gloom. 

From  out  of  this  pit  of  blackness  there  comes 
a  distant  hollow  rumbling  sound,  as  if  Pluto 
and  all  his  black  imps  are  back  in  there  in  some 
underground  chamber,  having  a  merry  bowling 
match  with  the  roundest  rocks  they  can  find. 
Closer  and  closer  these  sounds  roll.  Finally  you 
see  a  blaze  of  red  light  shatter  the  distant  black- 
ness, the  rolling  noises  grow  into  a  roaring  medley 
made  by  a  rattling  of  chains,  a  clattering  of 
couplings,  and  the  rough  shouts  of  men,  and — 
a  queer-looking  little  locomotive  pants  up  to  the 


10        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

shaft  with  a  line  of  dirty,  box-like  open  cars, 
which  are  loaded  with  shining  lumps  of  coal. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  cars  have  been  emptied, 
and  you  are  invited  to  jump  on  one  of  them  and 
go  back  into  the  diggings.  By  this  time  your 
timidity  has  vanished;  you  rather  enjoy  the  situ- 
ation. So  you  respond  with  alacrity,  and  spring 
on  the  last  car  just  as  it  rumbles  past  you.  You 
would  like  to  talk  with  the  miner  hanging  on 
close  to  you,  but  the  clatter  and  rattle  is  too 
great  for  words. 

The  little  locomotive  pulling  this  train  is  not 
operated  by  steam  like  those  in  the  outside  world. 
Steam  would  mean  a  fire-box,  and  a  fire-box 
would  mean  the  possible  escape  of  a  tiny  spark 
which  in  one  instant  might  ignite  the  mine  gases 
with  terrible  results.  So  a  safer  power  is  utilized 
— in  this  case,  a  pneumatic  engine  does  the  pull- 
ing. The  air  supply  which  revolves  the  sturdy 
little  driving  wheels  is  gained  from  large  tanks 
carried  just  above  them,  where  a  pressure  of  600 
pounds  per  square  inch  is  confined  in  each.  When 
the  air  becomes  exhausted  from  these  tanks,  all 
the  engineer  has  to  do  is  to  stop  at  any  one  of 
the  numerous  refilling  stations  along  his  course, 
and  recharge  them.  This  is  done  by  using  a 
nozzle  connected  to  a  high-pressure  tube  coming 
from  a  main  supply  pipe. 

Formerly  the  only  safe  way  of  getting  the 


coal  out  of  the  interior  of  mines  to  the  shaft  was 
by  single  little  cars  pulled  by  a  mule.  Boys 
operated  these  cars,  which  traveled  very  slowly, 
as  might  be  expected.  In  Europe,  mules  are 
still  used  to  a  great  extent.  Many  of  these 
animals  have  never  seen  daylight,  and  con- 
sequently are  practically  blind.  They  are  born 
in  the  mines  where  they  work,  are  stabled  there, 
and  never  know  what  sunlight  looks  like. 

All  along  the  tunnel  down  which  your  little 
train  is  whizzing,  you  pass  openings  of  various 
shapes  and  extents.  Into  some  of  them — sort 
of  cross-streets  leading  back  into  distant  dig- 
gings— tracks  lead  off  from  your  line.  But  most 
of  the  openings  are  merely  big  chambers  like  the 
interior  of  a  low  barn,  and  have  been  formed  by 
the  miners  scooping  out  the  coal  they  once  con- 
tained. Above  these  pockets  is  a  vast  amount 
of  earth  and  rock,  sometimes  hundreds  of  feet 
in  thickness.  There  is  always  danger  that  the 
roofs  will  cave  in,  so  where  the  rooms  are  large, 
the  men  leave  supporting  pillars  of  coal. 

Presently  the  little  train  you  are  on  comes  to 
a  stop  before  one  of  these  chambers.  With  the 
clatter  of  wheels  gone,  you  are  now  able  to  ask 
questions  of  the  engineer,  and  you  are  greatly 
surprised  to  find  that  you  are  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  under  the  "sod,"  and  have  traveled 
fully  three  miles  since  you  left  the  shaft.  In- 


12       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

voluntarily  you  glance  hastily  upward,  as  if  to 
assure  yourself  that  hills  and  houses  and  trees 
are  not  really  tumbling  down  upon  you,  and  then 
your  look  goes  downward  and  you  begin  to 
wonder  if  there  is  surely  enough  earth  under 
your  feet  to  keep  from  cracking  and  letting  you 
through  into  the  boiling  liquids  of  the  world's 
middle. 

But  your  attention  is  soon  back  to  realities. 
The  engineer  is  talking  to  you.  He  is  telling  you 
how  miners  used  to  get  out  coal  in  this  mine,  and 
how  they  do  it  now.  Shorn  of  his  quaint  phrases 
and  ungrammatical  speech,  the  facts  of  his  state- 
ments are  about  as  follows : 

Not  many  years  ago  the  miner  used  to  do  all 
the  digging  with  his  muscles;  now  machines  do 
most  of  it  for  him.  In  those  days  he  often  had 
to  work  in  places  so  small  that  he  would  have 
to  lie  on  his  side,  often  in  water,  and  peck  away 
with  his  pickaxe  all  day  long,  week  in  and  week 
out.  So  hard  was  the  floor  on  which  he  lay  that 
big  callouses  formed  on  his  hips,  elbows  and  other 
exposed  parts,  callouses  as  hard  as  the  toughest 
rawhide.  But  for  them  he  never  could  have 
stood  the  brutal  cuts  and  chafings  of  his  rough 
bed. 

As  soon  as  he  could  hew  out  a  proper  opening 
for  the  purpose,  this  miner  of  the  past  would 
drill  a  hole  into  the  seam  by  hand,  push  in  a  car- 


THE    STORY    OF    COAL  13 

tridge  of  powder,  thrust  in  a  slender  fuse,  light 
it,  and  run  for  dear  life.  Sometimes  he  was 
caught  by  the  fall  of  coal  and  slate;  if  not,  he 
would  return  and  have  his  helper  shovel  the  ton 
or  two  of  coal  that  he  had  dislodged  into  the 
empty  mule-car  near  by. 

Nowadays  in  this  and  most  other  large  mines, 
where  cutting  must  be  done,  it  is  all  accomplished 
by  means  of  a  small  machine.  The  miner  puts 
this  mechanical  cutter  on  the  floor  against  the 
wall  of  coal,  and  turns  on  the  air  or  electricity, 
according  to  which  power  operates  it.  A  buzzing 
is  the  answer,  as  the  sharp  steel  chisel  cuts  rapidly 
into  the  coal,  fairly  eating  it  up.  Soon  there  is 
a  deep  gully  cut  all  along  the  side  of  the  chamber. 

The  machine  cutter  now  goes  to  another  room 
that  needs  his  attention,  while  new  men  come  in 
and  bore  deep  holes  into  the  coal  rock  along  the 
gully  made  by  their  predecessor.  The  drills 
are  pneumatic,  very  powerful,  and  work  ten 
times  as  fast  as  the  old  hand  tools.  Late  in  the 
day,  other  miners  come  in,  insert  sticks  of  dyna- 
mite in  these  holes,  and  then  connect  the  det- 
onator of  each  stick  with  electric  wires  which  lead 
to  a  switch  out  in  the  tunnel,  out  of  direct  line 
with  the  mouth  of  the  chamber.  A  simple  closing 
of  the  switch  then  discharges  each  load,  as  fast 
as  desired. 

The  jar  which  accompanies  these  explosions  is 


14       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

something  terrific.  It  comes  not  only  from  the 
shock  of  heavy  charges  of  the  terrible  explosive 
itself,  but  from  the  concussion  of  great  blocks 
of  coal  thrown  in  all  directions  through  the  air. 
Woe  to  the  human  being  who  might  chance  to 
be  in  that  chamber,  or  in  front  of  its  open  portal! 
Down  below  the  whole  ground  trembles  percep- 
tibly in  the  neighborhood;  and  up  above,  under 
the  blue  vault  of  the  heavens,  passers-by  would 
feel  the  shake. 

Before  you  leave  your  mine  you  learn  that 
mining  coal  is  mighty  dangerous  work;  that 
hardly  a  day  passes  in  which  some  poor  chap  is 
not  carried  out  with  a  broken  leg  or  broken  back 
as  a  result  of  a  sudden  fall  of  slate  upon  him. 
Any  blow  of  a  pickaxe,  or  twist  of  a  drill,  may 
break  into  an  underground  vein  of  water  which 
will  burst  out  and  flood  the  mine.  The  wooden 
props  which  support  the  roof  may  break  at  any 
moment  and  let  tons  of  rock  down  upon  any  one 
unfortunate  enough  to  be  underneath. 

Then  there  are  the  dreaded  poisonous  gases. 
The  coal,  as  has  been  said  before,  was  made  while 
under  water.  Therefore  the  gas  which  was 
formed  in  the  decaying  leaves  and  wood  could 
not  escape.  It  is  always  leaking  out  from  coal, 
and  no  miner  knows  what  instant  his  tools  may 
break  into  a  natural  pocket  that  is  highly  charged 
with  the  vile  stuff. 


THE    STORY   OF   COAL  15 

One  kind  of  gas  is  called  "choke-damp,"  be- 
cause it  chokes  or  suffocates  any  one  who 
breathes  it.  There  is  also  "white-damp,"  the  gas 
which  you  see  burning  with  a  pretty  blue  flame 
over  a  hot  coal  fire.  But  worst  of  all  is  "fire- 
damp." If  you  stir  up  the  water  in  a  swamp, 
you  will  see  bubbles  of  this  gas  arise  to  the  sur- 
face. While  harmless  in  a  swamp,  it  is  quite  the 
opposite  in  a  mine.  For  when  it  unites  with  a 
certain  amount  of  mine  air  it  becomes  explosive 
as  soon  as  the  slightest  fire  meets  it.  Even  coal 
dust  sometimes  explodes  when  the  air  is  full  of 
it  and  a  heavy  blast  of  powder  sets  it  into  violent 
commotion. 

The  only  way  to  make  a  mine  at  all  safe  from 
dangerous  gases  is  to  keep  it  full  of  fresh,  pure 
air.  There  is  no  wind  to  blow  through  the  cham- 
bers and  passages,  so  air  has  to  be  forced  in. 
One  way  is  to  keep  a  large  fire  at  the  bottom  of 
the  air  shaft.  This  causes  hot  air  to  rise  from  the 
fire,  creating  a  vacuum  or  sucking  force  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  shaft.  The  vacuum  is  so  strong 
that  fresh  air  from  outside  is  pulled  in,  and  this 
is  gradually  distributed  through  the  workings  of 
the  mine.  But  the  best  system  yet  found  is  that 
used  in  most  large  public  buildings — a  great  fan 
at  the  shaft  entrances,  which  draws  in  fresh  air 
constantly  and  also  forces  it  along  the  various 
tunnels. 


When  the  coal  reaches  the  surface,  either  by 
tunnel  or  by  shaft,  you  will  find  it  passing  rap- 
idly through  a  series  of  operations  which  render 
it  fit  for  the  market.  These  processes  are  carried 
on  in  a  great  structure  called  a  "breaker."  The 
breaker  is  usually  erected  close  to  the  main  shaft 
of  the  mine,  and  railway  tracks  run  right  into  it, 
so  that  the  cars  can  be  loaded  as  fast  as  possible. 

This  building  is  a  place  of  dust  and  noise,  of 
rambling  sheds,  inclined  tramways  and  chutes; 
a  monstrous,  grimy  structure  not  at  all  pleasing 
to  look  at,  but  very  interesting  to  study  within. 

The  loaded  mine  cars  reach  the  breaker  at  a 
point  high  in  the  air.  As  fast  as  they  arrive  they 
are  tilted  so  that  they  dump  their  cargo  into  the 
chutes  provided  for  it.  As  the  coal  goes  rattling 
down  the  incline  it  is  carried  beneath  massive 
steel  rollers  which  smash  up  the  large  lumps 
into  much  smaller  ones.  Then  it  goes  on  to  a 
succession  of  screens  with  meshes  of  various 
sizes.  By  this  process  it  is  sifted  and  sorted  with 
mechanical  precision,  until  it  finally  reaches  the 
bottom,  where  each  grade  falls  into  the  bin  in- 
tended for  it.  As  fast  as  the  big  steam  railway 
cars  run  under  these  bins,  the  bottoms  of  the 
latter  are  swung  open,  and  the  coal  pours  into 
them  and  is  carried  far  and  wide  over  the  country 
to  keep  us  warm,  to  cook  our  food,  to  keep  our 
factories  and  great  industries  humming. 


THE    STORY   OF   COAL  17 

But  it  is  not  enough  merely  to  sort  the  coal 
into  sizes.  It  must  also  be  cleaned  as  well,  for  few 
mines  are  free  from  slate  and  other  impurities, 
which,  if  left  untouched,  would  reduce  the  quality 
and  value  of  the  coal.  The  best  cleaning  is  done 
by  mixing  the  coal  with  running  water.  As  the 
slate  is  heavier  than  the  coal,  it  sinks;  thus  the 
coal  is  easily  separated  from  it. 

As  the  coal  passes  through  the  breaker  and 
over  the  screens  it  is  watched  by  keen-eyed,  deft- 
fingered  boys,  who  pick  out  and  throw  aside 
whatever  large  pieces  of  stone  or  slate  they  dis- 
cover. These  lads  are  called  "breaker  boys." 
They  are  taking  the  first  steps  in  the  life  of  a 
miner,  and  in  every  mining  town  there  are  num- 
bers of  such  little  fellows  busily  engaged,  and 
helping  to  earn  the  living  for  the  household. 

The  fathers  of  these  boys  are  usually  for- 
eigners, and  miners  themselves.  As  they  are 
poor,  and  begin  work  at  an  early  age,  they  have 
little  opportunity  to  obtain  a  good  education. 
But  our  Government  does  all  it  can  to  improve 
their  working  and  living  conditions.  To  this  end 
the  Bureau  of  Mines  is  constantly  sending  out 
helpful  reading  matter  to  the  miners,  and  some- 
times lecturers,  telling  them  how  to  prevent  ac- 
cidents in  the  mines,  how  to  take  better  care  of 
their  health,  and  how  night-schools  will  give  them 
better  educations  if  they  will  only  attend  them. 


18        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Their  wives,  too,  receive  from  the  Bureau  bul- 
letins which  acquaint  them  with  the  importance 
of  keeping  their  homes  clean  and  sanitary,  their 
children  healthy,  and  their  cooking  wholesome. 


II 

SOME  BY-PRODUCTS  OF  COAL 

THE  value  of  coal  can  by  no    means    be 
measured  by  its  heating  capacity.    Impor- 
tant as  it  is  to  the  world  as  a  fuel,  it  is  un- 
doubtedly just  as  useful  to  us  for  the  many  by- 
products which  chemists  have   pried   from   its 
black  interior. 

Three  of  the  most  valuable  of  these  by-prod- 
ucts are  coke,  gas,  and  coal-tar.  From  the  latter 
alone  a  countless  host  of  useful  compounds  have 
been  worked  out,  and  hardly  a  week  goes  by  that 
does  not  witness  new  additions  to  the  fold.  Some 
are  important  therapeutic  agents ;  others  are  del- 
icate flavors  for  foods,  or  fragrant  perfumes;  a 
small  number  are  helpful  to  the  photographer, 
who  takes  your  picture ;  a  few  belong  to  the  class 
of  powerful  explosives  in  which  dynamite  is  in- 
cluded; many  are  good  substitutes  for  widely 
used  natural  products,  such  as  rubber,  camphor, 
and  the  like ;  finally,  there  is  a  vast  array  of  color- 
ing compounds  which  meet  all  possible  needs  in 
the  dyeing  or  staining  of  textiles,  leather,  wood, 
straw,  feathers,  hair,  etc. 
As  we  think  of  this  we  do  not  have  to  day- 

19 


dream  very  much  in  order  to  bring  vividly  before 
our  mind  the  days  far,  far  back,  when  this  old 
world  was  much  younger,  and  strange  objects 
grew  upon  it  and  ran  over  its  changing  face.  We 
see  before  us  the  great-great-grandfather  of  this 
wonderful  thing,  Coal:  the  luxuriant  tropical 
vegetation  of  the  Carboniferous  Period ;  the  slow 
transformation  of  that  rank  growth,  buried  be- 
neath water,  sand,  and  mud;  the  elapse  of  cen- 
turies, and  the  presence  of  peat,  the  change  into 
lignite,  and  finally  the  new  garb  of  coal.  The 
scene  switches  swiftly.  We  seen  now  the  dark 
bowels  of  the  earth,  hear  the  thud  of  the  miner's 
pick,  the  dull  report  of  a  blasting  charge,  the 
return  to  sunlight,  the  entrance  into  the  glowing 
coke  oven;  the  quick  tragedy  of  disintegration, 
as  gas  and  tar  and  ammonia  pour  forth  and  leave 
behind  an  incandescent  mass  of  coke ;  the  separa- 
tion of  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  nitrogen ;  the  start 
of  the  humble,  homely  coal-tar  on  its  career  of 
kaleidoscopic  brilliancy  I 

Most  people  think  of  coal-tar  as  a  material  for 
roofing,  for  lining  Bessemer  converters  in  making 
steel,  for  producing  electric  arc-lamp  carbons, 
for  preserving  timber,  for  keeping  boat  joints 
from  leaking,  and,  in  recent  years,  for  laying 
the  dust  on  modern  highways.  But,  as  we  have 
shown,  it  is  far  more  useful  than  in  just  those 
ways.  To  be  more  explicit,  we  may  say  that 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF    COAL         21 

this  material  has  furnished  by  separation  no  less 
than  190  substances  of  a  definite  composition. 

The  ingredients  are  secured  from  the  coal-tar 
by  what  is  known  as  "fractional  distillation."  The 
tar-distiller  starts  with  as  much  as  forty  tons  of 
tar  at  a  time,  which  he  puts  into  a  huge  cylindrical 
steel  retort.  As  the  heat  below  gets  in  its  work, 
the  vapors  pass  through  a  long  coil  of  iron  tub- 
ing, or  condenser,  which  ends  in  a  suitable  re- 
ceptacle for  imprisoning  them.  The  distillation 
is  interrupted  at  certain  points,  and  the  con- 
densed fractions  are  removed.  There  are  five 
primary  ones,  as  follows: 

Tar  water  (containing  ammonia).  Light  oil. 
Carbolic  oil.  Creosote  oil.  Anthracene  oil.  Re- 
sidual pitch. 

These  compounds  form  the  bottom  of  the  coal- 
tar  chemical  industry  of  to-day. 

The  average  amounts  of  the  products  derived 
from  the  distillation  of  1,000  pounds  of  bitu- 
minous coal  are  as  follows : 

Pounds 

Coke 700 

Tar 50 

Gas-water,  9  to  11  gallons. 

Gas,  300  cubic  meters 170.4 

Benzene  in  the  gas 9.38 

Benzene  in  the  tar 5 

Total  benzene 9.88 

Toluene  in  the  gas 3.12 


22        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Toluene  in  the  tar 4» 

Total  toluene 3-52 

Total  benzene  and  toluene 13.4 

Napthalene    3.0 

Anthracene    2 

Phenol   7 

Coke  plants  are  usually  so  equipped  that  when 
the  gas  which  issues  from  the  ovens  in  such 
abundance  is  passed  through  the  "scrubbers" 
most  of  the  hydrocarbons,  benzene  and  toluene, 
present  as  vapor,  are  recovered  in  the  liquid 
form.  But  in  the  manufacture  of  illuminating 
gas,  they  are  allowed  to  remain  in  the  form  of 
vapor,  in  order  to  increase  the  luminous  power. 

A  given  quantity  of  coal  will  generally  pro- 
duce a  little  less  than  72  per  cent  of  coke,  about 
22  per  cent  of  gas,  6  per  cent  of  coal-tar,  and 
0.36  per  cent  of  tar  useful  for  dyes. 

A  very  large  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  coal 
product  is  converted  into  coke  for  use  in  the  steel 
mills  and  manufactories  where  it  is  needed.  The 
coke  furnaces  thus  become  a  feature  of  the  coal 
industry,  and  they  have  grown  to  immense  pro- 
portions because  of  the  demand  of  the  steel  trade, 
although  of  late  years  there  has  been  an  increas- 
ing demand  from  households  for  it.  It  is  gen- 
erally used  by  citizens  for  starting  coal  fires,  but 
some  make  a  compound  fuel  of  it  by  mixing  it 
with  anthracite  in  home  furnaces. 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF   COAL         23 

So  complete  are  the  appliances  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  coke  that  virtually  all  the  work 
can  be  carried  on  by  machinery.  First  the  coal 
is  put  into  great  furnaces,  direct  from  the  car  in 
which  it  is  received  from  the  mine.  Here  it  is 
subjected  to  just  enough  heat  to  char  it  deeply. 
During  this  roasting  process  gas  escapes  from  it, 
and  is  caught  in  a  hood  and  conveyed  subse- 
quently to  huge  gas  tanks  from  which  it  is  dis- 
tributed through  underground  pipes  to  con- 
sumers, who  may  use  it  for  either  lighting  or 
cooking. 

As  soon  as  the  coke  is  properly  charred  it  is 
drawn  from  the  furnaces  by  a  long  mechanical 
arm,  operated  by  an  engine  on  a  car,  which  rakes 
the  light,  porous  pieces  into  a  trough.  The  latter 
has  running  through  it  an  endless  belt  which 
carries  moving  buckets  or  scoops.  The  buckets 
convey  the  coke  into  waiting  railroad  cars,  ready 
for  shipment. 

Acetylene  gas  is  another  product  owing  itself 
partly  to  coal.  This  gas  is  generated  when  cal- 
cium carbide  is  put  into  water.  Calcium  carbide 
is  a  hard,  porous,  grayish  material,  produced  by 
fusing  pulverized  coke  and  air-slaked  lime  in  an 
electric  furnace.  One  ton  of  carbide  makes  11,- 
000  cubic  feet  of  acetylene  gas.  This  is  as  power- 
ful in  illumination  as  twenty-five  times  that 
amount  in  ordinary  coal  gas. 


24       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Acetylene  gas  is  a  comparatively  modern  il- 
luminant  and  heating  agent,  having  come  into 
use  only  within  the  last  decade.  It  gives  a  white, 
brilliant  light,  fully  as  strong  as  electricity,  and 
is  much  more  economical  to  maintain.  But  it 
has  the  drawback  of  requiring  more  attention, 
and  it  is  also  more  dangerous  to  have  around,  for 
the  gas  sometimes  explodes  with  great  force  if 
the  lamp  is  not  properly  adjusted.  On  account 
of  these  defects,  it  is  not  as  popular  as  formerly 
with  vehicle  owners  and  householders,  who  gen- 
erally prefer  electricity.  Where  electricity  can- 
not be  had,  however,  acetylene  gas  is  still  widely 
used  for  illuminating  purposes. 

Another  of  the  important  uses  of  this  gas  is  in 
the  way  of  heating.  Its  remarkable  properties 
in  this  respect  are  in  every-day  use  in  the  indus- 
tries all  over  the  manufacturing  world.  Great 
bars  of  steel  that  formerly  resisted  being  severed 
by  the  hacksaw,  are  now  literally  melted  in  two 
with  acetylene  gas  almost  as  neatly  as  you  could 
halve  a  potato  with  a'butcher  knife,  and  in  a  very 
short  time.  Railways  cut  their  rails  with  it  when 
making  repairs  and  installations.  Structural  iron 
workers  use  it  in  cutting  great  steel  girders 
when  building  modern  skyscrapers  and  bridges. 
Broken  metal  castings  are  mended,  cracks  being 
melted  together  so  nicely  that  you  cannot  find 
them  afterwards. 


BY-PRODUCTS    OF    COAL         25 

Did  you  ever  stop  to  think  where  the  pretty 
dyes  came  from — the  brilliant  reds,  greens,  yel- 
lows, blues,  browns,  etc. — with  which  your  neck- 
ties, shirts,  caps,  and  hats  are  colored?  Or  where 
the  Easter-egg  dyes  come  from,  with  which  you 
decorate  Mrs.  Hen's  belongings  early  each 
spring?  Or  where  those  colors  originated  in  Sister 
Sue's  gay  little  parasol?  Or  from  what  source 
came  that  rich  mahogany  shade  on  mother's  birch- 
wood  sewing  stand  that  you  gave  her  last  Christ- 
mas? From  coal-tar  taken  from  coal.  To  be 
more  explicit,  from  the  compounds  of  phenol, 
anthracene,  and  toluene,  which  have  been 
extracted  from  coal-tar. 

It  was  not  so  many  years  ago  that  cochineal 
and  madder  furnished  the  reds,  logwood  the 
black,  and  indigo  the  blues,  for  almost  all  fabrics, 
which  had  these  colors  or  their  combinations  in 
them.  But  that  was  before  chemists  had  begun 
to  dream  that  the  coal  they  burned  in  their  grates 
possessed  better  color  values.  First,  an  experi- 
menter discovered  how  to  make  coal-gas,  and  as 
soon  as  the  process  began  to  be  generally  used  it 
was  noticed  that  a  brownish,  pungent-odored 
syrup  flowed  away  as  a  troublesome  by-product. 
After  a  time  this  was  named  coal-tar  by  the 
scientists,  who  began  to  pick  it  to  pieces.  Mar- 
velous substances  were  extracted,  one  after 
another,  in  quick  succession,  until,  as  we  have 


26       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

already  said,  the  number  reached  into  the  hun- 
dreds, many  of  which  can  be  converted  into 
beautiful  dyes. 

Before  the  World  War,  Germany  made  most 
of  the  dyes  of  the  world,  the  other  countries  hav- 
ing given  little  study  to  the  business  and  there- 
fore knowing  little  about  it,  as  all  their  colors 
were  obtained  from  Germany.  But  when  hos- 
tilities opened  up  a  breach,  there  was  nothing  for 
the  others  to  do  but  try  their  hand  at  the  job  if 
they  were  to  continue  having  good  coloring 
agents  at  reasonable  cost. 

At  first  their  attempts  were  clumsy  and  marked 
with  poor  success.  Black  stockings  bought  in  the 
stores  were  gray  stockings  after  the  first  wash- 
ing. Shirts  with  pretty  pink  and  green  stripes 
faded  into  a  nondescript  tint  in  the  washtub.  In 
other  words,  the  colors  were  not  well  "set" ;  they 
lacked  permanency. 

But  the  new  American  dye  manufacturers, 
with  their  customary  versatility  and  ingenious- 
ness,  soon  solved  the  problem,  and  dyes  just  as 
good  or  better  than  the  former  European  prod- 
uct soon  began  to  appear.  At  the  present  time 
America,  within  the  space  of  four  years,  has 
become  the  leading  dye-producing  country  out- 
side of  Germany,  and  that  nation  has  undoubt- 
edly forever  lost  its  exclusive  prestige  in  this  line 
of  endeavor. 


Ill 

OIL,  THE  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  GIANT 

THREE  famous  statesmen  have  recently 
paid  their  tribute  to  the  importance  of  oil. 
Said  Admiral  Fisher,  chief  of  the  British 
Navy:  "The  oil-engine  will  revolutionize  com- 
merce, and  alter  the  whole  art  of  war  at  sea." 

Earl  Curzon,  British  Foreign  Secretary, 
stated:  "In  the  recent  World  War  the  Allies 
floated  to  victory  on  a  sea  of  oil." 

Franklin  K.  Lane,  formerly  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  said  in  a  report  to  President  Wilson: 
"It  draws  railroad  trains  and  drives  street  cars. 
It  pumps  water,  lifts  heavy  loads,  has  taken  the 
place  of  millions  of  horses,  and  within  twenty 
years  has  become  a  farming,  industrial,  business, 
and  social  necessity.  The  naval  and  merchant 
ships  of  this  country  and  all  Europe  are  being 
fitted  out  to  use  it.  The  airplane  could  never 
have  amounted  to  anything  without  it.  There 
has  been  no  such  magician  as  this  drop  of  mineral 
oil  since  the  day  of  Aladdin." 

Indeed  oil  has  become,  from  a  mere  lubricating 
and  lamp-burning  commodity  twenty  years  ago, 
the  biggest  and  most  important  industrial  giant 

27 


28        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

of  the  age.  It  has  risen  like  a  meteor  in  the  sky, 
with  a  sudden,  swift,  dazzling  jump — until  today 
it  has  the  record  for  producing  the  bulk  of  our 
mechanical  energy,  and  of  having  made  more 
poor  men  rich  in  a  short  time  than  all  the  gold 
and  diamond  mines  that  ever  existed.  All  of  the 
big  nations  of  the  earth  are  doing  their  level  best 
to  get  control  of  as  many  oil  lands  as  possible, 
realizing  that  the  nation  possessing  the  greatest 
amount  of  crude  oil  will  be  the  future  giant  in 
both  industrial  and  fighting  strength.  In  other 
words,  oil  is  to  modern  nations  what  water  is  to 
the  sailor,  what  muscle  is  to  the  wrestler.  It  is 
just  about  as  near  to  being  indispensable  as  any- 
thing you  can  find. 

The  World  War,  which  called  for  new 
strength  in  such  an  emphatic  manner,  showed  us 
the  necessity  of  oil  as  nothing  else  could.  Oil 
drove  our  submarines,  our  submarine-chasers, 
many  of  our  great  battleships.  Oil  also  carried 
our  brave  dispatch-bearers  on  their  motorcycles, 
made  the  long  lines  of  trucks  transport  our  field 
supplies  and  troops  at  break-neck  speed  across 
the  country  to  the  front-line  trenches,  whirred 
the  propellers  of  the  fighting  airplanes,  to  say 
nothing  of  its  use  in  greasing  countless  great  and 
small  field-guns,  and  keeping  the  bearings  of 
railway  cars  and  automobiles  in  good  working 
order.  And  those  left  behind  to  back  up  the 


OIL,    INDUSTRIAL    GIANT        29 

fighters  used  oil  just  as  lavishly  and  helpfully. 
For  them  it  helped  to  operate  a  myriad  of  ma- 
chines in  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  factories, 
furnished  power  for  transporting  the  manufac- 
tured products  from  factory  to  pier,  and  from 
pier  across  the  seas.  The  Red  Cross  depended 
upon  it  for  many  of  their  important  surgical  sup- 
plies, likewise  hospitals  sought  its  healing  influ- 
ences in  various  by-products. 

This  great  jump  of  oil  in  popularity  is  due 
principally  to  the  wide  use  of  gasoline,  at  this 
time  its  chief  by-product. 

Figures  are  tiresome  things  at  best,  but  it  will 
be  interesting  to  know  that  since  the  year  of  1878 
the  consumption  of  petroleum  (crude  oil)  has 
increased  nearly  thirty-fold.  During  the  month 
of  June,  1920,  the  daily  average  production  was 
1,240,633  barrels,  the  highest  ever  attained,  and 
even  then  there  were  more  calls  for  oil  than  could 
be  filled.  So  great  was  the  demand  during  the 
late  war  that  automobiles  used  for  pleasure  had 
to  be  put  under  gasoline  restrictions  in  order  to 
provide  gasoline  for  business  and  war  purposes. 

In  recent  years  oil  has  not  only  made  riches 
for  the  capitalist,  but  also  for  many  with  little 
or  no  money.  There  are  many  cases  where  needy 
adventurers,  even  men  with  criminal  records, 
became  suddenly  rich  by  rushing  into  the  newly 
opened  Texas  fields.  Land  owners  all  the  way 


30        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

from  cattle  kings  down  to  worthless,  shiftless 
proprietors  of  a  small  patch  of  unfertile  dirt,  and 
ignorant  half-breed  Indians,  made  millions  in 
almost  a  night.  One  man  at  Ranger,  in  less  than 
a  year,  changed  from  the  poorest  of  the  poor  to 
the  owner  of  seven  million  dollars.  Business 
men  and  professional  oil  operators  also  arose  in 
a  few  years  to  dizzy  riches.  This  sounds  like  the 
fairy  stories  of  old  in  its  improbabilities,  but  it 
only  goes  to  accent  the  old  saying  that  "truth  is 
stranger  than  fiction." 

At  the  present  time  there  are  225,000  oil  wells 
in  the  world.  Many  of  these  produce  less  than 
one-quarter  of  a  barrel  per  day,  while  the  big 
"gushers"  average  close  to  fifty  barrels  daily. 
The  great  bulk  of  oil  wells  cost  $50,000  to  estab- 
lish, while  some  run  into  twice  that  figure,  owing 
to  the  hardness  of  the  soil  and  the  depth  to  which 
they  must  be  bored  in  order  to  make  a  strike. 
Then,  too,  the  life  of  the  average  well  is  not  long. 
As  a  rule,  their  supply  grows  less  and  less  as  the 
months  roll  by.  A  Texas  well  which  began  at 
1,200  barrels  a  day  less  than  two  years  ago, 
has  now  fallen  off  to  an  insignificant  (by  com- 
parison) fifteen  barrels  a  day. 

Two  great  petroleum  corporations  control  most 
of  the  world's  oil  supply.  Of  these,  the  Standard 
Oil  Company,  of  the  United  States,  possesses 
about  two-thirds  of  the  refined  supply,  while  a 


OIL,   INDUSTRIAL   GIANT       31 

good  share  of  the  remainder  is  produced  by  the 
Rothschilds  in  Europe.  Of  course  there  are 
many  smaller  concerns  getting  out  petroleum  on 
an  independent  basis,  but  their  output  is  small 
when  balanced  against  the  enormous  volume  of 
production  of  the  two  interests  named. 

Probably  the  greatest  developed  oil  field  in  the 
world  is  that  at  Baku,  a  Russian  port  on  the  west 
shore  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  just  south  of  the  Cau- 
casus Mountains.  The  contrast  between  the  stu- 
pendous grandeur  of  the  mountain  scenery  and 
the  industrial  activities  of  Baku,  lying  in  the  val- 
ley far  below,  is  a  most  striking  one.  Hundreds 
of  spidery  towers  rise  up  into  the  air  about  the 
town,  forming  a  maze  of  lattice  work  very  diffi- 
cult to  penetrate  with  the  eyes  at  a  distance. 
These  wells  are  constantly  pouring  a  wealth  of 
crude  oil  into  immense  nearby  reservoirs,  while 
tank  trains  are  coming  and  going  all  the  while. 
The  earth  of  the  town  is  saturated  with  the  oil, 
so  much  so  that  nothing  can  be  grown ;  and  white 
shoes  are  never  worn  by  the  citizens.  Even  the 
air  itself  is  heavy  with  the  odor  of  the  dark- 
brown  petroleum,  and  almost  everybody  you 
meet  has  a  greasy,  leathery  look  about  him.  But 
they  do  not  seem  to  mind  that,  for  they  are 
largely  oil  workers  themselves,  and  are  doing 
their  share  to  produce  Baku's  annual  output  of 
50,000,000  barrels. 


32       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

In  the  United  States  are  many  oil  fields,  quite 
widely  scattered.  These  wells  producing  the 
highest  grade  petroleum  are  situated  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, which  is  the  oldest  oil  field  in  the  world. 
Pennsylvania  crude  oil  has  a  high  percentage  of 
paraffin  in  it,  which  makes  it  an  almost  ideal 
fluid.  From  it  the  best  oils  for  lamps  are  made, 
also  the  finest  qualities  of  lubricants  for  greasing 
cars,  wagons,  machinery,  automobiles,  etc.,  and 
the  highest  grades  of  gasoline.  It  is  often  mixed 
in  refineries  with  lower  grade  oils  from  other 
fields,  so  as  to  bring  up  the  quality  of  the  latter 's 
products. 

Oil  is  contained  in  rocks  of  considerable 
porosity,  mainly  sandstone  and  shale,  which, 
when  containing  oil  or  gas,  are  usually  referred 
to  as  "sand." 

In  this  district  the  main  producing  "sand" 
averages  about  thirty  feet  in  thickness,  and  is 
found  from  1,100  to  1,800  feet  below  the  surface. 
The  early  colonists  learned  that  there  was  pe- 
troleum here,  and  also  in  the  western  part  of 
what  is  now  the  State  of  New  York.  While  they 
knew  of  its  illuminating  qualities,  they  preferred 
to  go  on  burning  candles  or  sperm-whale  oil, 
rather  than  make  the  long  trips  back  and  forth 
to  the  oil  districts. 

The  Indians  had  discovered  the  strange  fluid 
long  before  this.  At  first  they  were  very  much 


OIL,    INDUSTRIAL    GIANT        38 

afraid  of  it,  but  later  found  that  by  rubbing  it 
over  their  bodies  they  shone  beautifully,  and  so 
determined  that  it  must  be  some  form  of  "good 
medicine."  They  then  went  to  the  springs  where 
they  had  found  the  oil  floating,  threw  their 
blankets  into  the  water,  and  carried  the  heavy, 
soggy  things  back  to  camp.  Here  they  were 
wrung  out,  and  their  oily  contents  traded  to 
others. 

It  is  said  that  one  day,  after  this  practice  had 
been  going  on  for  some  time,  an  Indian  war  party 
built  a  fire  near  one  of  these  oil  springs.  Here  a 
council  was  held,  during  which  the  majority  of 
the  band  declared  for  returning  to  their  village, 
fearing  that  the  enemy  tribe  against  which  they 
had  been  advancing  was  too  strong  for  them. 
But  the  old  chief  was  very  angry,  called  his  fol- 
lowers cowards,  and  finally  became  so  violent  at 
the  protests  of  his  son-in-law,  Sag-nee-wah,  that 
he  picked  up  one  of  the  blazing  fire  brands  and 
cast  it  toward  him.  Sag-nee-wah  saved  himself 
a  searing  by  dodging.  The  brand  flew  into  the 
pool  near  by,  ignited  the  heavy  scum  of  oil,  and 
at  once  there  was  a  flash,  and  tongues  of  fire 
leaped  up  all  over  the  surface  of  the  spring. 

None  of  the  savages  understood  this  phenome- 
non. So  they  immediately  ran  from  the  scene  in 
the  greatest  fright,  going  back  to  their  people 
with  the  story  of  the  terrible  wrath  of  the  Great 


84       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Spirit,  as  manifested  in  the  "pool  of  good  medi- 
cine" where  they  had  been  only  a  few  minutes 
before  anointing  their  bodies  for  warfare. 

It  was  not  until  about  ten  years  after  the  rush 
for  gold  into  the  California  diggings  that  the 
first  company  was  organized  for  securing  crude 
oil  in  Pennsylvania.  These  men  did  some  pros- 
pecting, selected  a  piece  of  land  that  looked 
promising,  paid  the  owner  for  it,  and  then  went 
to  work  with  pick  and  shovel.  Poor  dolts,  they 
thought  to  dig  this  first  oil  well  as  they  would 
have  dug  for  drinking  water — by  making  a  large 
hole  down  into  the  ground !  You  can  imagine  the 
result:  they  came  to  an  underground  stream  long 
before  they  could  have  reached  the  oil-bearing 
strata,  and  their  "well"  was  truly  a  well  from  that 
moment  on,  but  one  of  water  instead  of  oil. 

Realizing  their  folly,  the  men  then  drove  down 
several  sections  of  iron  pipe  till  the  sand  belt  was 
struck  in  which  the  oil  was  contained.  Just  back 
of  this  was  a  pocket  of  natural  gas,  such  as  is 
often  found  below  the  oil,  and  when  the  drill 
tapped  into  this,  the  gas  was  strong  enough  to 
force  the  oil  up  into  the  pipe  and  out  at  the  top, 
where  it  spurted  several  feet  high — a  mild  little 
"gusher." 

The  news  of  this  "strike"  traveled  fast,  and 
soon  people  in  the  East  were  scraping  together 
all  their  spare  money  and  rushing  into  the  Perm- 


OIL,   INDUSTRIAL   GIANT       85 

sylvania  fields  looking  for  oil  lands  to  buy.    A 
song  of  the  day  had  this  for  its  refrain — 

"Stocks  par,  stocks  up, 

Then  on  the  wane; 
Everybody's  troubled  with 
Oil  on  the  brain." 

A  few  years  later  the  first  real  gusher  was 
tapped.  The  workmen  had  drilled  down  close  to 
a  thousand  feet,  and  were  working  away 
patiently  when  a  furious  stream  of  oil  burst  forth 
out  of  the  casing  at  the  top  of  the  ground.  They 
and  their  tools  were  drenched  with  oil  in  a 
moment,  and  the  men  had  to  make  a  hurried 
jump  in  order  to  save  their  lives.  The  oil  spurted 
in  a  thick,  dark  stream,  many  feet  over  the 
nearby  treetops,  and  came  down  like  a  shower  of 
molasses.  Hundreds  of  barrels  were  lost  before 
means  were  found  for  capturing  the  valuable 
fluid.  That  strike  made  these  men  all  rich. 

An  oil  field  is  not  necessarily  a  small  district; 
very  often  it  will  extend  over  a  large  portion  of 
a  whole  State,  sometimes  several  adjoining 
States.  When  a  prospector  thinks  there  is  oil  in 
a  certain  spot,  he  secures  permission  of  the  owner 
to  sink  a  test  well  there.  If  this  turns  out  to  suit 
him  he  may  buy  the  property,  but  usually  he 
secures  the  oil  privileges  by  guaranteeing  the 
owner  a  royalty,  that  is,  a  certain  amount  of 


36       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

money  for  each  barrel  of  oil  he  takes  out.  We 
will  say  he  offers  a  royalty  of  fifty  cents,  and 
sells  his  product  to  the  refineries  for  $4.00  a  bar- 
rel. You  will  readily  see  that  if  there  is  only  one 
well,  the  owner  will  soon  be  well  off  with  his  roy- 
alty, for  a  hundred  barrels  a  day  would  bring 
him  nearly  twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year;  and 
the  operator  himself  of  course  should  make  much 
more. 

When  he  decides  to  go  ahead,  the  operator 
builds  his  derrick.  This  is  made  of  four  heavy 
uprights  of  wood  which  lean  together  toward  the 
top,  in  the  form  of  a  pyramid,  and  are  braced  by 
cross-timbers.  The  tower  is  from  forty  to  eighty 
feet  high,  according  to  the  depth  of  the  well,  and 
stands  directly  over  it.  Close  by  an  engine- 
house  is  set  up.  From  the  engine  flywheel  a 
heavy  belt  runs  up  to  a  pulley  in  the  top  of  the 
derrick.  This  pulley  turns  a  shaft  to  which  is 
connected  the  drilling  mechanism. 

The  work  goes  on  day  and  night  till  success  or 
failure  manifests  itself.  Imagine  yourself  an  oil- 
well  owner  during  this  time.  Just  think  how 
your  pulse  quickens  as  the  sharp-toothed  drill 
bites  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  earth,  and  the 
steel  casing  outside  of  it  is  driven  down,  rat-a- 
tat-tat,  rat-a-tat-tat,  into  the  clay  and  sand.  Will 
the  next  stroke  bring  you  that  coveted  dark  fluid? 
Oh,  will  it?  Or  will  you  have  to  go  on  drilling 


OIL,    INDUSTRIAL    GIANT        37 

(how  gloomy  the  thought!)  for  a  long  time  yet, 
only  to  find  nothing  but  water  and  rock?  Rat-a- 
tat- tat,  rat-a-tat-tat !  One  moment  you  are  wal- 
lowing in  the  richest  of  dreams,  seeing  yourself  a 
second  John  D.  Rockefeller;  the  next,  you  are  as 
blue  as  a  heron,  in  the  dumps,  fearful  of  failure. 
Rat-a-tat-tat,  rat-a-tat-tat ! 

As  the  drill  keeps  nipping  away  at  the  soil,  the 
pump  sucks  out  the  water  and  loose  bits  of  rock. 
This  well  may  be  a  great  gusher,  pouring  out 
several  thousands  of  barrels  a  day.  Again,  it  may 
evolve  itself  into  a  sluggish  "pumper"  only — a 
well  lacking  sufficient  gas  force  to  throw  up  the 
oil,  and  calling  for  constant  pumping  from  above 
in  order  to  make  it  a  paying  proposition.  There 
are  many  of  the  latter  type  of  wells  in  various  oil 
fields.  Sometimes  these  can  be  made  to  flow  mod- 
erately by  exploding  a  heavy  charge  of  dynamite 
at  the  bottom.  This  breaks  up  the  rock,  making 
a  larger  opening,  and  often  gives  an  obstructed 
gas  pocket  a  vent  for  heaving  the  oil  upward. 

Since  the  Pennsylvania  field  is  the  oldest  it  is 
but  natural  that  many  of  the  wells  which  at  first 
produced  largely  should  have  flowed  out.  For 
a  long  time  these  dry  wells  were  considered 
worthless.  They  were  plugged  up,  according  to 
State  law,  and  left  alone.  But  what  surprised 
the  oil  men  was  that  very  often  when  a  certain 
well  went  dry,  an  adjoining  one  began  to  give 


88        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

forth  more  oil  than  ever  before.  Greatly  puz- 
zled, but  bent  on  finding  the  reason,  geologists 
made  the  most  careful  investigations.  By  put- 
ting two  and  two  together  they  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  renewed  influx  of  oil  into  these 
wells  was  caused  by  water  entering  the  oil  sand 
at  the  old  hole,  which  had  not  been  properly 
plugged,  and  driving  the  oil  by  back-pressure 
through  the  porous  rock  to  the  producing  well. 

This  opened  their  eyes.  Now  nearly  every 
well  that  goes  dry  is  heavily  flooded,  and  new 
wells  are  drilled  in  advance  of  the  flood,  one  acre 
apart.  These  new  holes,  in  about  three  years,  be- 
gin to  be  influenced  by  the  subterranean  flood 
water,  and  produce  much  more  oil  as  a  conse- 
quence. But  as  the  oil  becomes  exhausted,  water 
takes  its  place,  and  after  a  while  there  is  more 
water  than  oil,  and  the  well  is  abandoned  for 
good. 

Whence  come  the  great  volumes  of  oil  issuing 
from  the  many  gushers  of  the  California  oil 
fields?  How  long  will  they  continue  to  flow, 
making  fortunes  for  those  who  have  an  interest 
in  them?  Will  the  gushers  cease  spouting  tomor- 
row, or  will  they  continue  to  furnish  man  with 
nature's  bountiful  supply  of  petroleum  for 
months,  maybe  years? 

Geologists,  engineers,  and  oil  operators  all 
are  more  or  less  befogged  when  it  comes  to 


OIL,   INDUSTRIAL   GIANT       39 

furnishing  answers  to  these  questions.  Some 
operators,  who  have  had  wells  gushing  without 
perceptible  loss  for  several  years,  may  claim  that 
their  wells  are  practically  inexhaustible,  but  they 
are  really  not  so  sure  as  they  pretend  and  have 
an  uneasy,  guilty  feeling  when  they  say  it,  too. 
Although  they  know  that  all  the  gushers  of  the 
great  California  fields  seem  to  be  fed  by  the  same 
steady,  gigantic  subterranean  force,  like  many 
small  water  pipes  leading  from  one  large  feeder 
in  which  a  terrific  pressure  is  always  present, 
their  experts  tell  them  that  the  life  of  any  oil 
field  is  comparatively  short. 

The  oil  situation  in  the  world  really  is  some- 
what critical.  Our  modern  inventions  and  mode 
of  living  are  using  up  this  wonderful  fluid  at  a 
tremendous  rate.  We  are  told  that  the  world's 
production  of  oil  will  soon  be  on  the  decline  and 
in  twenty  years  the  supply  will  be  much  less 
than  the  present  demand  unless  some  great  new 
fields  are  discovered. 

But  meanwhile  so  much  oil  is  flowing  out  of 
these  California  wells  that  it  is  the  biggest  job 
they  ever  undertook  to  find  places  to  store  it, 
and  cars  in  which  to  ship  it.  For  the  huge  out- 
put has  not  only  taxed  their  resources  to  the  limit, 
but  has  called  for  an  expenditure  of  more  than  a 
million  dollars  to  handle  it.  Great  reservoirs  of 
concrete  have  been  built  to  contain  the  oil,  and  a 


40       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

vigilant  watch  is  maintained  over  these  day  and 
night  to  prevent  seepage  and  contact  with  fire. 

Fire  indeed  is  one  of  the  greatest  perils  in  the 
oil  fields  all  over  the  world.  Nobody  is  permitted 
near  the  vats  or  gushers  with  a  flame  of  any  kind ; 
smoking  is  positively  prohibited.  One  tiny  match 
has  often  set  a  great  gusher  into  a  spouting  vol- 
cano of  fire  and  the  blackest  sort  of  smoke  clouds, 
to  burn  for  days  and  weeks  while  the  men  help- 
lessly tried  to  extinguish  it.  Reservoirs,  too, 
have  had  all  their  valuable  contents  destroyed  in 
the  same  manner,  it  being  practically  impossible 
to  put  out  the  flames  when  once  they  are  started 
till  the  last  drop  of  oil  is  consumed.  Everyone 
who  has  been  in  railroad  yards  has  observed  the 
cards  on  tank  cars,  warning  of  keeping  away  with 
all  fire. 

In  the  Maricopa  oil  fields  of  California  is  a 
well  called  the  "Lakeside."  This  is  probably  the 
deepest  and  heaviest  producing  gusher  ever 
bored.  Its  great  volume  of  oil  flows  up  through 
the  ground  a  distance  of  2,225  feet — close  to 
half  a  mile.  Usually  the  velocity  of  the  flow  of 
a  well  of  this  type  will  force  sand  and  rock  into 
the  pipe  and  clog  it  up,  but  this  has  never  hap- 
pened with  the  Lakeside's  6-inch  casing.  For 
many  weeks  following  its  tapping  this  great  well 
projected  high  into  the  air  thousands  of  barrels 
of  beautiful  crude  oil  every  day.  This  spouted 


©  Publisher's  Photo  Service 

SHOOTING    AN    OIL    WELL 


OIL,    INDUSTRIAL    GIANT        41 

higher  than  the  tallest  trees,  and  came  down  in  a 
vast  cascade,  flooding  the  entire  country  there- 
about for  several  miles.  It  was  absolutely  be- 
yond control.  For  weeks  the  engineers,  braving 
the  blinding  deluge,  tried  their  best  to  get  a  cap 
over  the  pipe  and  stop  the  loss,  but  it  would  only 
be  torn  each  time  out  of  their  hands  by  the  fierce 
pressure,  as  the  wind  will  whisk  away  a  feather. 
In  time,  however,  man's  ingenuity  and  persever- 
ance succeeded.  The  great  gusher  was  capped, 
and  thereafter  has  been  feeding  its  tremendous 
supply  of  oil  into  a  big  conducting  pipe  which 
connects  with  a  great  reservoir  over  half  a  mile 
long. 

Although  natural  gas  is  usually  found  wher- 
ever oil  wells  are  sunk,  and  probably  does  do 
much  in  some  instances  to  force  up  the  tapped 
oil,  at  the  same  time  there  are  many  reputable 
geologists  and  oil  engineers  who  hold  to  the 
theory  that  underground  water  exerts  most  of 
the  pressure,  and  facts  seem  to  give  them  good 
grounds  for  this  belief,  called  the  "diatomic 
theory."  These  experts  point  out  that  the  greatest 
gusher  of  all — the  Lakeview,  which  we  have 
mentioned — varies  in  intensity  with  the  rise  and 
fall  of  the  ocean  tides,  although  the  ocean  is  at  a 
considerable  distance,  with  a  mountain  range  be- 
tween. And  they  also  point  out  that  which  we 
have  previously  noticed :  the  extra  impetus  given 


42        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

to  producing  wells  by  flooding  a  nearby  ex- 
hausted one.  All  of  which  would  seem  to  show 
that  water  does  have  a  strong  influence  over  the 
flow  of  oil,  at  least. 

Before  crude  petroleum  can  be  utilized  to  any 
great  extent  it  must  be  refined,  which  is  a  pro- 
cess of  removing  from  it  its  grossest  impurities. 
In  the  beginning  of  its  history  it  was  carried  for 
this  purpose  in  wagons  and  boats,  from  the  oil 
fields  to  Pittsburgh,  where  the  only  refinery  was 
situated.  Then  came  the  railroads,  which  re- 
placed both  the  wagons  and  boats  as  a  medium 
of  transportation.  The  railroads  provided  spe- 
cial flat  cars  to  which  were  fastened  great  cylin- 
drical steel  tanks  that  would  hold  thousands  of 
gallons  each. 

There  was  only  one  difficulty  about  sending  oil 
by  rail,  and  that  was  that  it  still  had  to  be  hauled 
by  team  from  the  oil  wells  to  the  railroad  station, 
often  a  distance  of  several  miles,  and  this  was  no 
easy  task.  At  length  some  one  said  to  himself, 
"Why  can't  we  run  a  pipe  direct  from  the  well 
to  the  railroad?"  It  proved  a  wonderfully  good 
idea;  so  simple,  too!  So  pumping  engines  were 
put  in  a  few  miles  apart,  and  almost  all  the  big 
fields  began  sending  their  oil  straight  to  the  cars 
through  a  feed  pipe. 

Before  this  it  had  been  necessary  to  build  re- 
fineries as  near  the  oil  regions  as  possible  in  order 


OIL,   INDUSTRIAL   GIANT       43 

to  save  expense  in  transportation;  but  now  they 
could  be  built  wherever  wanted.  There  are  cases 
where  the  feed  lines  travel  as  much  as  a  hundred 
miles  to  reach  the  nearest  refinery.  They  go  over 
hills  and  through  swamps.  They  cross  rivers, 
sometimes  by  means  of  bridges,  sometimes  by  be- 
ing anchored  to  the  bed  of  the  stream.  They 
cross  deep  ravines  and  gorges  not  too  wide  by 
simply  stretching  across  from  ledge  to  ledge.  In 
salt  marshes  they  are  laid  in  concrete  to  keep  rust 
from  destroying  the  iron.  If  these  great  oil 
arteries  were  to  be  ruined  by  any  means,  so  that 
oil  had  to  be  carried  in  the  old  way,  kerosene  and 
gasoline  would  become  much  more  expensive 
necessities  than  they  are  today. 

At  the  present  time  crude  oil  can  be  brought  at 
small  expense  from  the  fields  far  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  re- 
fined, and  distributed  throughout  that  part  of 
the  country,  or  loaded  into  "tankers"  (oil  ships) 
and  taken  across  the  ocean.  In  the  early  days  of 
this  pipe  system  great  trouble  was  encountered 
by  the  pipes  getting  choked  with  impurities,  shut- 
ting off  the  flow  or  diminishing  it.  But  some 
ingenious  chap  invented  what  he  called  a  "go- 
devil"  to  do  away  with  this  nuisance.  The  go- 
devil  is  about  three  feet  long,  and  shaped  like  a 
cartridge,  but  its  body  is  composed  of  flexible 
plates  which  allow  it  to  turn  around  any  bend  in 


the  pipe  line.  From  time  to  time  the  go-devils 
are  inserted  in  the  pipe  at  the  wells,  and  the  rush 
of  oil  forces  them  along  to  the  receiving  end,  by 
which  time  they  have  done  their  duty  of  scraping 
out  the  pipe  line,  and  can  be  shipped  back  and 
used  over  and  over  again. 

If  you  hold  a  piece  of  cold  earthenware  in  the 
steam  of  a  teakettle  water  will  collect  on  it.  This 
is  distilled  water,  and  is  much  purer  than  that  in 
the  kettle.  Petroleum  was  at  first  distilled  in  a 
rough  way;  but  now  it  is  done  with  the  utmost 
care  and  exactness.  The  crude  oil  is  pumped  into 
boilers  holding  six  hundred  barrels  or  more.  The 
fires  are  started  beneath,  and  the  oil  soon  begins 
to  turn  into  vapor.  This  vapor  passes  through 
coils  of  pipe,  and  sometimes  long  lines  of  parallel 
pipes,  on  which  cold  water  is  pumped.  This 
causes  the  vaporized  oil  to  turn  once  more  into 
liquid,  and  this  liquid  is  a  crude  form  of  the  kero- 
sene we  buy  for  lamps. 

Kerosene  oil  is  only  one  of  the  many  useful 
substances  found  in  petroleum.  Some  of  these 
are  light,  like  gasoline  and  benzine;  some  are 
heavier,  like  kerosene  and  thin  lubricants;  while 
paraffin  and  tar  are  heaviest  of  all.  In  the  sepa- 
ration of  these  by-products,  there  are  also  gases, 
which  pass  off  first  and  are  used  to  provide  fuel 
for  the  furnaces.  Nothing  is  lost.  Every  atom 
of  the  crude  oil  goes  into  something  valuable  for 


OIL,    INDUSTRIAL    GIANT        45 

making  our  lives  easier  and  more  comfortable. 
One  by  one  come  the  other  substances,  according 
to  weight  or  specific  gravity.  The  still  man  keeps 
close  watch.  When  the  color  of  the  distillate 
changes  he  turns  the  cock  of  that  tank  shut  and 
opens  another.  This  process  is  called  "fractional 
distillation,"  and  the  various  products  are  known 
as  "fractions."  No  two  kinds  of  petroleum  and 
no  two  oil  wells  are  just  alike  in  their  chemical 
properties,  so  it  needs  a  highly  skilled  still  man  to 
manage  the  cocks. 

After  its  distillation  kerosene  oil  is  still  unfit 
for  good  illuminating  purposes.  It  has  both  a 
disagreeable  smell  and  a  way  of  smoking  the 
lamp  chimney.  So  it  is  treated  with  sulphuric 
acid  and  caustic  soda,  which  carry  away  the  re- 
maining impurities. 

Then  it  is  given  three  tests.  These  are  to  make 
sure  that  the  oil  is  light  enough  to  absorb  freely 
through  the  wick;  that  it  is  of  the  right  con- 
sistency to  produce  a  vapor  that  will  flash  into 
fire  when  a  certain  amount  of  heat  has  been  ap- 
plied; and  that  it  will  not  burn  too  easily  on  the 
surface  when  heat  is  applied  to  it,  as  this  would 
make  it  unsafe. 

We  do  not  burn  oil  in  our  lamps,  as  we  are  in 
the  habit  of  saying.  What  we  really  do  is  to  heat 
the  oil  until  it  gives  off  gas,  and  then  we  burn  the 
gas.  The  chimney  is  merely  a  helper  in  regulat- 


46        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

ing  combustion.  The  hot  air  rises  in  the  chimney, 
the  cold  air  rushes  in  underneath  to  take  its 
place,  and  this  brings  the  necessary  oxygen  to 
the  flame  for  making  it  burn  brightly  and  stead- 
ily. The  more  air  we  let  in  from  below,  the 
brighter  the  light,  up  to  a  certain  point.  Burners 
and  chimneys  are  all  carefully  thought  out  by 
the  manufacturers,  and  made  so  that  they  will 
give  the  best  results  possible.  In  a  close,  stuffy 
room  no  lamp  will  give  a  clear  light,  because 
there  is  not  oxygen  enough  for  its  flame. 

In  a  wax  candle  we  light  the  wick,  its  heat 
melts  the  wax,  the  wax  runs  up  the  wick  in  the 
form  of  oil,  the  oil  is  reduced  to  gas,  and  the 
flame  feeds  upon  the  gas — just  as  with  kerosene 
oil.  Wax  alone  will  melt,  but  it  will  not  take  fire. 
Ignition  of  practically  all  substances  requires  the 
formation  of  gas  first. 

The  by-products  of  petroleum  are  many  and 
important.  Omitting  such  well-known  sub- 
stances as  kerosene  and  gasoline,  we  have  many 
grades  of  lubricants  for  oiling  machinery ;  tar,  as 
used  in  dyes;  naphtha  for  dissolving  the  resins 
used  in  varnishes;  benzine  for  cleansing  clothes, 
printers'  types,  and  almost  everything  else;  par- 
affin for  candles  and  fruit  sealing,  for  covering 
match  heads,  and  for  making  waxed  paper  with 
which  to  do  up  our  lunches  when  a  picnic  is  in 
prospect.  Even  printers'  ink  and  waterproof 


OIL,    INDUSTRIAL    GIANT        47 

roofing-paper  both  owe  their  existence  to  petro- 
leum. In  medicine,  vaseline  is  one  of  the  greatest 
standbys.  It  can  be  mixed  with  drugs  without 
changing  their  character,  and  it  never  becomes 
rancid.  For  this  reason  it  is  used  largely  as  the 
principal  part  of  salves  and  ointments.  It  also 
has  a  certain  medicinal  or  healing  value  on  its 
own  account. 


IV 

IRON  ORE,  THE  WORLD'S  RICHEST 
MINERAL 

FROM  iron  ore  is  made  steel,  man's  richest 
metal,  industry's  greatest  asset  except  coal. 
From  steel  the  modern  world  makes  its 
wonderful  tools,  constructs  its  great  bridges, 
tunnels,  and  buildings;  builds  its  famous  rail- 
ways, shapes  its  powerful  steamships  and  war 
implements.  From  plowshare  to  pen,  from 
super-dreadnaught  to  watch  spring,  steel  reaches 
over  countless  products  of  the  manufacturing 
realm  with  deep  mothering  interest.  "They  are 
mine,"  she  says  proudly;  "all  mine!  Are  they 
not  beautiful  children — wonderfully  smart  chil- 
dren?" 

Would  you  like  to  know  the  size  of  the  Amer- 
ican steel  industry  alone  ?  Then  reflect  that  even 
before  the  great  World  War  broke  out,  in  the 
slack  and  uncertain  days  of  1914,  it  employed 
more  people  than  live  in  all  the  four  States  of 
Nevada,  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and  Wyoming. 
More  money  is  invested  in  the  industry  than  the 
national  wealth  of  Switzerland. 

Think  of  an  ore  train  so  long  that  it  would 
48 


IRON    ORE  49 

take  a  fortnight  to  pass  a  certain  point,  going  all 
the  time  at  freight-train  speed!  Think  of  ore 
ships  moving  one  behind  another  and  stretching 
from  Detroit,  Michigan,  to  Erie,  Pennsylvania! 
Think  of  a  row  of  blast  furnaces  (for  making  ore 
into  steel)  reaching  from  New  York  City  twenty 
miles  past  Philadelphia!  Picture  a  column  of! 
rolling  mills  and  puddling  furnaces  stretching 
from  New  York  to  Indianapolis!  Imagine  a 
stream  of  ten  tons  of  liquid  iron  flowing  out  of 
great  crucibles  and  becoming  pig  metal  every 
second  of  the  year ! 

This  will  give  you  a  faint  idea  of  the  vastness 
of  the  steel  industry.  But  for  American  steel 
we  might  be  little  better  than  savages  to-day. 
Without  American  steel  probably  German  sub- 
marines would  be  ruling  the  seas  at  this  time, 
and  German  hordes  tramping  ironshod  over 
British,  French,  Italian  and  American  lands. 
Steel  is  king!  The  nation  possessing  great 
wealth  of  iron  ore  not  only  has  in  her  mines  a 
university  of  great  civilizing  and  progressive  in- 
fluences, but  she  also  has  the  most  formidable 
weapon  she  can  possess  with  which  to  protect 
herself  from  enemy  invasion. 

There  is  a  wide  distance  between  the  primitive 
miner  of  iron  ore,  his  own  crude  furnace  and 
molding  appliances,  and  the  present  gigantic  and 
systematic  methods  employed  by  specialists  in 


50        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

the  production  of  iron  and  steel.  The  United 
States  Steel  Corporation,  a  group  of  many  rich 
men  combining  a  working  capital  of  more  than 
two  billions  of  dollars,  controls  most  of  the  steel 
industry  of  this  country.  These  men  not  only 
own  the  greatest  share  of  the  iron  mines,  but  also 
the  multitude  of  blast  furnaces,  rolling  mills,  and 
other  enterprises  connected  with  the  smelting  and 
production  of  iron  and  steel  in  various  forms  and 
qualities.  Finished  products  are  made  where 
there  is  a  large  demand  for  them.  These  include 
such  things  as  railway  rails,  structural  steel, 
armor-plate,  automobile-plate,  and  tubing.  Less 
used  products  they  leave  to  the  smaller  industries 
to  manufacture. 

Leaving  aside  European  interests,  it  was  not 
so  very  long  ago  that  Pennsylvania  was  the 
source  of  all  our  steel.  Now  great  steel  mills  are 
operated  in  all  sections  of  the  country — north, 
south,  east  and  west.  With  the  great  ore  deposits 
of  the  Lake  Superior  region  at  their  very  doors, 
the  mills  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation 
at  South  Chicago  and  Gary,  Indiana,  are  working 
day  and  night.  At  Birmingham,  Alabama,  other 
mills  are  transforming  the  ore  of  the  surround- 
ing mountains  into  rails  and  structural  steel, 
while  out  at  Irondale,  Washington,  a  new  era  in 
the  industries  of  the  Pacific  coast  was  opened  a 
year  or  so  ago  when  the  plant  of  the  Western 


IRON   ORE  51 

Steel  Corporation  began  to  turn  out  pig  iron  and 
steel  ingots. 

The  story  of  modern  iron-ore  mines  naturally 
begins  at  Hibbing,  Minnesota,  the  iron-ore  capi- 
tal of  the  world,  and  the  richest  village  on  the 
planet.  Most  of  the  streets  in  Hibbing  start  at 
one  man-made  precipice  and  end  at  another;  for 
not  content  to  be  the  proud  possessor  of  the  big- 
gest iron  mine  in  existence,  this  enterprising  little 
metropolis  has  gathered  several  other  good-sized 
mines  around  her,  as  a  hen  gathers  in  her  brood. 
In  1910  the  population  of  the  iron  town  was  less 
than  9,000,  and  yet  it  had  a  street-lighting  system 
as  ornamental  and  efficient  as  that  of  such  large 
cities  as  Cleveland,  Minneapolis,  and  Detroit,  and 
far  more  beautiful  than  that  of  the  nation's  cap- 
ital, Washington. 

The  streets  are  well  paved,  and  everybody 
seems  to  have  an  automobile,  even  the  miners ;  so 
that  street-cars  would  be  about  as  necessary  as  a 
fifth  wheel  on  a  wagon.  Going  up  to  Hibbing 
from  Duluth  you  get  the  idea  that  the  ore  capital 
risks  money  lavishly,  as  in  the  parlor  cars  and 
day  coaches  alike  appear  signs  which  warn 
against  playing  cards  for  money  in  railroad 
trains. 

Hibbing's  great  mine  is  the  Hull  Rust,  which 
is  a  hole  in  the  ground  rivalling  the  immense  Gal- 
liard  Cut  at  Panama.  This  mine  is  a  vast  ter- 


52       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

raced  amphitheater  cut  out  of  rolling  ground,  and 
covers  an  expanse  of  two  miles  in  length  by  a 
half  mile  in  width.  Could  you  dump  the  huge 
Gatun  Dam  of  Panama  fame  into  it,  there  would 
still  be  a  yawning  chasm  unfilled.  A  ten-story 
office  building  set  down  into  its  deepest  trench 
would  leave  the  flag-pole  of  the  building  barely 
reaching  to  the  line  of  the  original  surface. 

Ordinarily  we  think  of  mining  as  an  occupa- 
tion for  human  moles  that  burrow  in  the  ground 
and  bring  out  hard  ores  from  cavernous  depths. 
But  when  nature  laid  down  the  Lake  Superior 
ore  ranges  she  spread  her  precious  layer  close  to 
the  surface,  so  that  for  the  most  part  burrowing 
and  blasting  was  quite  unnecessary.  This  is  par- 
ticularly the  situation  in  the  Mesaba  Range,  the 
richest  stretch  of  iron-bearing  ore  ever  discovered. 
The  work  is  done  by  stripping  off  the  surface  de- 
posits and  useless  vegetable  mold,  until  the  iron 
ore  is  uncovered,  whereupon  it  is  removed  by 
steam-shovels  to  waiting  cars.  This  becomes 
quarrying  rather  than  mining,  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  word,  but  though  it  may  lack  some  of  the 
picturesque  features  of  mining  operations  deep 
in  the  earth,  it  is  much  more  convenient  com- 
mercially, and  makes  the  cost  of  the  product  far 
less  than  if  it  were  garnered  through  shafts  and 
tunnels  where  the  light  of  day  never  penetrates. 

The  ore  bodies  are  first  thoroughly  explored 


IRON    ORE  53 

by  churn-  and  diamond-drilling,  surface  and  ore 
contours  are  sketched  on  maps  by  the  engineers, 
and  complete  plans  made  for  stripping  and  min- 
ing before  excavation  really  begins.  Then  things 
begin  to  hum.  It  is  somewhat  uncanny  to  see  a 
whole  batterjr  of  huge  steam-shovels  biting  into 
the  soft,  red-brown  stuff  that  looks  more  like 
some  sort  of  sand  than  iron-ore.  These  shovels 
are  operated  from  heavy  cars  which  travel  slowly 
along  tracks  built  on  "shelves"  or  "benches" 
which  are  left,  terrace-like,  around  the  sides  of 
the  great  bowl  where  operations  are  carried  on. 

When  one  of  these  large  scoops  buries  itself 
in  the  earthen  matter  it  usually  shovels  out  a  hole 
twenty-five  feet  deep  and  fifty  feet  wide.  Just 
think  of  that !  In  such  a  trench  a  whole  company 
of  soldiers  could  conceal  themselves.  This  is 
"making  the  dirt  fly"  in  deadly  earnest  1 

In  stripping  operations,  that  is,  working  off 
undesired  soil  to  expose  the  iron-ore,  the  steam- 
shovels  dump  enough  of  the  scrapings  ahead  of 
them  to  form  a  roadbed  for  their  own  tracks,  as 
they  advance.  When  there  is  a  surplus  of  such 
foreign  earth  it  is  generally  dropped  to  one  side, 
out  of  the  way ;  but  sometimes,  owing  to  a  rise  on 
that  side  and  an  accumulation  of  too  much  dump- 
ings, the  piles  slide  down  in  true  avalanche 
fashion  and  partially  bury  the  cars  or  knock  them 
from  the  tracks. 


54       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

As  a  rule  very  little  dynamite  is  used  in  this 
form  of  mining,  the  big  shovels  doing  practically 
all  of  the  loosening  work  as  well  as  the  loading. 
Strange  little  trains,  pulled  by  diminutive  steam 
locomotives,  are  a  part  of  each  shovel  outfit.  In 
each  train  there  are  all  the  way  from  five  to  a 
dozen  flat-cars,  each  of  which  holds  from  five  to 
thirty  yards  of  dirt.  The  first  car  is  usually  the 
steam-shovel  itself,  which  empties  its  load  of 
iron  ore  on  the  nearest  flat-car.  Often  a  locomo- 
tive is  required  at  each  end  of  the  train  when  the 
cargo  becomes  heavy,  or  the  grade  is  steep. 

Day  and  night  the  work  goes  on — two  tons  to 
the  shovelful,  five  shovelfuls  to  the  minute,  and 
five  minutes  to  the  carload.  A  whole  ore  train  is 
loaded  in  less  time  than  a  child  with  a  toy  shovel 
could  fill  his  little  red  express  wagon.  Not  long 
ago  a  big  300-ton  steam-shovel  loaded  7,689  tons 
of  ore  in  a  single  day. 

The  railroads  reaching  from  the  mines  down  to 
Duluth,  Superior  and  Two  Harbors,  where  most 
of  the  ore  goes  for  lake  shipment,  are  of  the  best 
construction,  like  the  main  lines  of  our  biggest 
eastern  roads.  The  long  ore  trains  crawl  through 
the  hills  and  vales  that  Proctor  Knott  declared, 
in  his  celebrated  speech  in  Congress,  would  not, 
except  for  the  pine  bushes,  "produce  vegetation 
enough  in  ten  years  to  fatten  a  grasshopper,"  but 
where  to-day  farmers  are  growing  splendid  crops 


IRON    ORE  55 

of  potatoes  and  wheat.  Where  gold  and  silver 
were  located  on  the  map  Knott  made  famous,  we 
now  find  the  richest  iron  mines  in  the  world — 
mines  that  beggar  the  bonanzas  of  California. 

The  haul  from  Hibbing  to  Duluth  is  eighty 
odd  miles.  Just  before  the  trains  reach  Duluth 
they  come  to  Proctor,  the  biggest  ore  yard  in  the 
universe.  Here  they  are  weighed  on  a  scale 
unique  in  its  convenience  and  accuracy.  A  sec- 
tion of  the  tracks  are  on  this  scale,  the  trains 
pass  over  it  without  stopping,  and  as  it  leaves  the 
weight  of  every  loaded  car  is  automatically  regis- 
tered. 

From  Proctor  the  trains  run  down  to  the  huge 
unloading  piers  at  Duluth.  These  piers  are  vast 
platforms  built  out  over  the  lake,  nearly  half  a 
mile  long,  and  wide  enough  to  accommodate  two 
tracks  which  are  elevated  to  the  approximate 
height  of  a  two-story  building.  Beneath  the 
tracks  is  a  series  of  large  pockets,  holding  some 
two  or  three  hundred  tons  of  ore  each.  The  ore 
is  dropped  mechanically  into  these  pockets,  and 
the  train  returns  to  Hibbing  for  a  new  cargo. 

Even  while  the  trains  are  dropping  their  bur- 
den special  ore-ships  are  alongside.  From  the  ore 
pockets  on  the  piers  long  funnels  reach  down  to 
the  hatches  of  these  vessels,  and  the  ore  goes 
flowing  down  till  the  pockets  are  emptied  or  the 
ships  supplied. 


56        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

These  ore-ships  are  a  picture  in  themselves. 
They  remind  us  of  the  exclamations  of  an  old 
Cape  Cod  salt  who  beheld  one  of  them  for  the 
first  time:  "Now  clap  your  eyes  on  that!  D'ye 
call  that  a  ship?  Bless  your  mizzen-scuppers, 
why  a  loggy  lighter  with  a  city  store  on  one  end 
and  a  match-factory  on  t'other  would  look  more 
like  a  ship  than  that!  It's  so  long,  how'd  the 
skipper  and  chief  engineer  ever  get  acquainted? 
And  you  say  the  skipper  bunks  in  the  skys'l 
fo'c'stle  for'd,  while  the  cook  and  ship's  boy  has 
the  quarterdeck?  Well,  I  wouldn't  ship  on  such 
a  bloody  drogher  for  all  the  gold  in  the  world !" 

In  a  general  way  the  big  freighters  do  fit  the 
old  sailor's  sketchy  description.  Some  of  them 
are  more  than  600  feet  long,  and  only  60  feet 
beam.  A  big  sort  of  house  at  one  end,  occupied 
by  officers  and  crew,  and  a  great  stretch  of  flat 
decking  in  between,  surely  make  them  look  like 
uncanny  monsters  of  the  deep,  in  their  dull,  dark 
dresses  of  paint.  More  than  thirteen  thousand 
tons  of  ore  have  been  carried  on  one  of  the  largest 
of  these  ships.  The  cost  of  operating  them  on 
trips  is  often  as  much  as  three  hundred  dollars 
a  day. 

When  the  big  ore  carriers  arrive  at  the  lower 
lake  ports — Lorain,  Cleveland,  Ashtabula,  Con- 
neaut,  Erie,  and  Buffalo — they  are  quickly  un- 
loaded at  huge  piers.  Gravity  may  load  a 


IRON    ORE  57 

ship,  but  it  has  never  yet  unloaded  one,  and  so 
machinery  does  the  work  entirely.  The  Hulett 
unloader,  one  of  the  chief  mechanical  agents  used, 
reminds  you  of  the  glorified  walking-beam  of  an 
old  side-wheel  steamer,  with  one  of  the  two  beams 
left  off.  At  the  lower  end  it  has  a  wonderful  set 
of  claws,  and  above  them  an  "ankle"  of  startling 
agility.  These  great  claws  open  and  shut  by 
electricity,  and  take  up  seventeen  tons  of  ore 
with  as  much  ease  as  you  might  close  your  hand 
on  a  nice,  juicy,  red  apple.  The  operator  is  sta- 
tioned inside  the  leg  just  above  the  claws,  so  as 
it  swings  back  and  forth,  up  and  down,  he  goes 
with  it  from  hour  to  hour,  getting  all  the  sensa- 
tions of  riding  a  roller-coaster,  and  good  pay  for 
his  experience.  Once  it  took  a  week,  with  a  regi- 
ment of  men  to  unload  a  small  ore-ship.  Now, 
in  half  a  day,  a  corporal's  guard  can  empty  the 
biggest  ore-carrier  that  ever  cut  the  waves. 

This  ore  is  stored  in  huge  bins,  from  which  it 
is  transported  by  train  to  the  blast  furnaces. 

The  modern  blast  furnace  is  a  tremendous  and 
spectacular  institution, — tremendous  in  size  and 
output;  spectacular  in  its  appearance  when  in 
operation,  especially  at  night  when  the  vividness 
and  weirdness  of  its  saffron-green  cupola  flames, 
shooting  erratically  into  the  dark  heavens,  cause 
exclamations  of  awe  and  wonderment  from  those 
who  see  them  for  the  first  time. 


58        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

At  the  top  the  blast  furnace  takes  in  iron-ore, 
coke,  and  limestone.  Without  the  two  last- 
named  products,  good  pig  iron  would  not  result. 
The  furnace  is  a  large  circular,  silo-shaped  affair, 
about  ninety  feet  high,  which  is  kept  going  day 
and  night,  Sundays  and  Christmas  alike,  year  in 
and  year  out.  The  coke,  limestone,  and  ore,  are 
soon  melted,  as  a  veritable  inferno  of  heat  exists 
down  near  the  bottom  of  the  furnace,  caused  by  a 
tremendous  blast  of  air  driven  into  the  fire  by 
huge  engines.  The  blast  causes  all  the  oxygen 
in  the  air  to  unite  with  the  carbon,  and  to  leave 
through  the  gaspipes  leading  from  the  furnace. 

The  pure  ore  and  the  limestone  melt  together 
under  the  fire,  while  the  foreign  matter  in  the  ore 
unites  at  once  with  the  molten  coke.  Being  lighter 
than  liquid  iron  these  newly  wedded  substances 
rise  to  the  top  of  the  bubbling  caldron  like  oil 
rises  to  the  top  of  water  or  cream  to  the  top  of 
milk. 

There  are  two  holes  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
furnace.  Out  of  the  upper  one  of  these,  when 
tapped,  conies  the  waste  matter,  now  liquid  slag, 
which  soon  hardens  and  is  shipped  away  to  be 
made  into  prosaic  cement. 

When  the  iron,  now  as  liquid  as  milk,  is  drawn 
off  through  the  lower  hole,  it  is  plain  molten  iron. 
At  some  furnaces  it  is  run  into  large  cavities  in 
sand,  called  "sows,"  and  then  conducted  to 


©  Underwood  and  Underwood 

IRON     MINERS    AT    WORK 


IRON    ORE  59 

smaller  ones,  called  "pigs,"  where  it  is  allowed 
to  cool  and  harden.  The  iron  is  then  in  the  form 
of  grayish-brown  slabs  about  the  size  of  two 
bricks  placed  end  to  end,  and  is  termed  "pig 
iron."  At  other  furnaces  the  molten  iron  is 
drawn  off  into  metallic  molds  instead  of  sand 
ones;  and  at  still  other  furnaces  it  is  "machine 
cast,"  drawn  off  into  ladles,  transferred  to  molds 
mounted  on  an  endless  belt,  and  cooled  by  water 
through  which  the  belt  runs. 

In  some  cases  the  furnace  and  steel  mill  are 
in  the  same  plant,  and  the  pig  iron  is  delivered 
in  its  molten  condition  directly  to  the  steel-maker, 
and  he  reduces  it  to  steel  before  it  has  a  chance  to 

• 

harden.  But  though  it  may  never  become  "pig" 
it  is  known  as  "pig"  just  the  same. 

Up  to  this  point  all  things  made  of  steel  have 
a  common  history.  Pig  iron  is  the  common  de- 
nominator of  every  fraction  of  the  steel  industry. 
The  200-ton  casting  for  a  powerful  electric 
dynamo,  the  tiny  second-hand  for  the  highest 
grade  watch,  the  powerful  16-inch  gun  that 
weighs  as  much  as  a  locomotive,  and  the  micro- 
scopic screw  with  threads  that  elude  the  human 
vision, — all  come  the  same  road.  The  ore  that 
was  bought  of  the  land-owner  in  the  Lake  Su- 
perior iron  region  for  the  paltry  sum  of  25  cents 
a  ton,  now,  in  the  form  of  fine  watchsprings,  is 
worth  $7,000,000. 


60        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

But  once  out  of  the  blast  furnace,  pig  iron 
comes  to  the  parting  of  the  ways.  Some  of  it 
will  go  to  the  puddling  furnace  and  become 
wrought  iron  (such  as  blacksmiths  use) ;  some 
will  take  the  cupola  route  and  become  cast  iron 
(iron  poured  in  molds  according  to  foundry 
method) ;  much  more  will  go  into  the  Bessemer 
converter  and  become  soft,  malleable  steel;  but 
still  more  will  take  the  path  that  leads  to  the 
open-hearth  furnace.  A  little,  comparatively 
speaking,  remains  behind.  It  finds  its  way  into 
a  crucible  furnace  or  an  electric  furnace,  and  be- 
comes the  tool  steel  of  the  industrial  world,  the 
refined,  tough,  hard  steel  that  goes  into  the  mak- 
ing of  knives,  saws,  bits,  drills,  cutters,  reamers, 
taps,  dies,  and  the  like. 

In  making  wrought  iron — used  generally  in 
the  manufacture  of  chains,  pipe,  bolts,  wagon 
rods,  nuts,  and  the  like — close  to  600  pounds  of 
pig  iron  is  heated  until  it  reaches  the  consistency 
of  dough.  Slag  soon  begins  to  form,  and  being 
lighter  and  more  fusible  than  the  pure  iron,  floats 
to  the  top,  and  the  greater  portion  is  poured  off. 
At  this  stage,  the  iron  begins  to  form  into  small 
pasty  globules,  about  the  size  of  a  pea,  each 
globule  surrounded  by  a  thin  covering  of  fluid 
slag. 

Stripped  to  the  waist,  with  arms  and  muscles 
like  those  of  a  prizefighter,  the  puddler  stirs  or 


IRON    ORE  61 

"puddles"  the  iron  for  nearly  an  hour  and  a  half. 
He  takes  a  bar  of  iron,  known  as  a  rabbling-iron, 
which  in  itself  would  make  a  staggering  load  for 
most  men,  puts  one  end  through  the  furnace  door, 
and  turns  the  pigs  over  and  over  until  they  are 
melted,  stirring  the  mass  so  as  to  expose  all  parts 
of  it  to  the  action  of  the  intense  overhead  flame 
until  the  impurities  are  largely  eliminated.  The 
iron  is  then  formed  into  two  or  three  pasty  balls, 
as  a  woman  might  knead  dough  and  divide  it  for 
loaves.  These  balls  are  not  touched  by  the  hands, 
however.  The  work  is  done  with  more  discretion 
than  that,  the  rabbling-iron  being  utilized.  They 
are  taken  out  of  the  furnace  glowing  with  heat 
and  dripping  with  slag,  and  conveyed  by  tongs 
to  the  "squeezer,"  where  most  of  the  remaining 
slag  is  pressed  out. 

It  is  a  strange  thing  about  iron  that,  before 
it  is  converted  into  steel,  it  cannot  be  "tempered" 
or  made  harder.  Compared  to  steel,  iron  is 
always  soft  and  quite  pliable.  But  once  put 
through  the  converting  process,  and  becoming 
steel,  treating  it  later  with  heat  will  give  it  almost 
any  degree  of  softness  or  hardness.  For  instance, 
if  you  have  a  piece  of  soft  steel  and  wish  to  make 
it  harder,  you  would  heat  it  to  a  cherry  red  and 
plunge  it  quickly  into  water.  This  renders  the 
steel  as  hard  as  such  metal  can  be  made.  If  too 
hard  for  the  purpose  in  view,  the  temper  is 


62        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

"drawn,"  that  is,  the  hardness  is  reduced.  To  do 
this  it  is  only  necessary  to  subject  the  steel  again 
to  heat  for  a  very  limited  length  of  time,  or  until 
the  proper  color  shows  on  it,  signifying  the  de- 
gree of  hardness  desired.  It  is  then  withdrawn, 
and  cooled  naturally. 

Cast  iron  is  different  from  steel  in  hardness 
and  color.  It  can  stand  almost  as  much  squeez- 
ing together  as  the  best  steel,  but  it  is  compara- 
tively weak  in  resisting  a  pulling  or  straining 
force.  A  sharp  blow  will  easily  crack  or  shatter  it. 

In  making  cast  iron  the  cupola  furnace  is 
usually  used,  but  not  always.  A  bed  of  coke  is 
laid  down,  then  a  layer  of  iron,  then  another  layer 
of  coke,  and  so  on.  It  is  then  fired,  the  iron  melts 
and  runs  out,  and  is  poured  into  molds.  Air- 
brake parts  for  railways,  radiators,  car  brackets, 
and  pipe  fittings,  are  examples  of  its  use. 

The  story  of  Bessemer  steel  is  one  of  the  fas- 
cinating chronicles  of  the  industrial  world.  It  has 
to  do  with  two  men  working  in  different  countries, 
each  without  knowledge  of  what  the  other  was 
doing,  reaching  the  same  conclusion  about  the 
same  time.  Both  were  granted  American  patents ; 
but  upon  application  for  renewal,  the  Patent 
Office  held  Kelly  to  be  the  inventor.  The  world, 
in  spite  of  this,  gives  the  credit  to  his  contem- 
porary, Bessemer,  and  the  method  is  known  as 
the  Bessemer  process  accordingly. 


IRON    ORE  63 

Kelly  was  a  maker  of  old-fashioned  cooking- 
pots  and  kettles.  It  is  related  that  one  day  he 
was  sitting  in  front  of  his  furnace  and  observed 
a  point  of  incandescence  where  there  was  no 
charcoal,  only  the  metal  and  the  air.  This  led 
him  to  believe  that  air  alone  would  burn  out  the 
impurities  from  molten  iron.  So  he  experi- 
mented along  this  line,  and  produced  a  tilting 
converter.  When  his  engineer  tried  this  out  he 
blew  such  a  tremendous  blast  through  the  first 
eharge  that  iron  and  all  went  up  as  sparks,  to 
Kelly's  chagrin  and  the  onlookers'  amusement. 
He  finally  succeeded  in  getting  the  amount  of  air 
regulated,  and  soon  afterward  poured  out  the 
finest  tempered  steel.  People  were  so  surprised 
that  they  said  the  next  thing  Kelly  would  be  do- 
ing would  be  to  burn  ice!  Since  his  crude  old 
converter  was  first  used,  billions  of  dollars'  worth 
of  Bessemer  steel  has  flowed  out  of  the  world's 
converters. 

To  go  into  a  great  building  where  there  is  a 
battery  of  Bessemer  converters  is  to  see  more 
heat  than  Dante  ever  pictured  in  his  "Inferno." 
A  converter  is  like  a  huge  egg  of  steel  swung  on 
trunnions  at  its  middle.  The  shell  is  lined  with 
fire-brick,  which  is  the  greatest  resistant  of  heat 
that  can  be  found.  Were  it  not  for  this  unmelt- 
able  lining,  the  steel  shell  would  collapse  into 
liquid  as  the  white-hot  metal  enters. 


64       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Into  the  open  top  of  this  gigantic  egg  some 
twenty  tons  of  molten  pig  iron  are  poured.  And 
then,  through  more  than  two  hundred  little  holes 
in  the  bottom,  powerful  engines  pump  in  as  many 
streams  of  cold  air.  As  the  oxygen-laden  air 
sweeps  up  through  the  molten  iron,  it  comes  in 
contact  with  molten  carbon  and  silicon — which 
constitute  the  impurities — and  carries  them 
away  through  the  open  top  of  the  converter,  up 
through  a  gaping  hole  in  the  roof  of  the  build- 
ing, up  into  the  outside  atmosphere. 

Millions  of  red  and  white  sparks  fill  the  air,  as 
if  some  demon  within  the  fiery  fluid  were  spitting 
out  his  spite  in  a  last  cataclysm  of  terrible  rage. 
A  thousand  boilers,  with  safety-valves  hissing 
under  tremendous  pressure,  have  the  voice  of  a 
soothing  nightwind  in  comparison.  First  the 
flame  that  pours  out  is  violet ;  then  it  merges  be- 
witchingly  into  orange,  becomes  a  ghostly  and 
then  a  dazzling  white,  and  burns  finally  into  a 
faint  blue,  which  is  a  sign  that  all  the  impurities 
are  gone. 

Then  the  blast  ceases,  the  carbon  that  is  neces- 
sary to  replace  the  needed  portions  burnt  out  is 
added,  the  great  brick  and  steel  egg  swings  back 
to  position,  the  carbon  is  mixed  with  the  fervent 
fluid,  and  then  the  egg  tips  over  on  its  side,  and 
out  of  its  top  flows  the  liquid  steel,  Bessemer  steel 
now,  into  a  great  ladle. 


IRON    ORE  65 

When  the  converter  is  swung  back  again  into 
an  upright  position,  a  man  with  colored  glasses, 
to  protect  his  eyes,  walks  out  over  the  converter 
and  peers  down  into  its  white-hot  depths  to  see 
if  the  heat  from  the  last  charge  has  melted  away 
any  of  the  fire-brick  lining.  If  it  has,  he  hurls 
balls  of  fire-clay  in  putty  form  down  into  the 
burned-out  holes  to  stop  them  up,  or  sets  a  crew 
of  workmen  to  re-lining  the  damaged  places 
after  the  converter  has  cooled. 

The  whole  operation  of  conversion  takes  about 
twenty  minutes — a  ton  of  steel  a  minute.  Bes- 
semer steel  is  used  for  structural  beams  and 
girders,  for  railroad  rails,  wire,  and  pipe. 

In  1900  there  was  twice  as  much  steel  produced 
in  the  United  States  by  the  Bessemer  process  as 
by  the  open-hearth  method.  But  with  the  rapid 
exhaustion  of  ores  having  the  proper  amounts  of 
phosphorus  for  converter  practice,  the  open- 
hearth  process  largely  replaced  the  other.  The 
open-hearth  system  successfully  handles  ores 
having  any  amount  of  phosphorus  in  them. 

An  open-hearth  furnace  looks  a  good  deal  like 
an  ordinary  bake-oven;  but  when  you  look  in 
through  the  water-cooled  door  a  vast  difference 
appears.  Instead  of  pans  of  fat  loaves  of  bread, 
there  is  an  imposing  pool  of  fiery  liquid  as  bright 
as  the  filament  of  a  strong  tungsten  lamp,  so 
dazzling  that  it  can  be  looked  at  with  safety  only. 


66        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

through  colored  glasses.  Tinted  here  and  there 
with  streaks  of  soft  blue  and  dainty  pink,  it  looks 
for  all  the  world  like  melted  stick-candy. 

In  preparing  a  battery  of  open-hearth  furnaces 
for  a  charge,  finely-ground  dolomite  is  shoveled 
in  first.  This  melts  like  glass,  and  fills  up  all 
cracks  and  crannies  caused  by  the  intense  heat  of 
the  preceding  charge.  Then  a  little  train  rolls 
up  before  the  battery,  and  an  electric  crane 
dumps  box  after  box  of  scrap  metal  from  the  cars 
into  the  furnaces. 

Off  some  distance  is  a  great  steel  tank  lined 
with  fire-brick  and  full  of  liquid  pig  metal.  This 
tank  is  called  a  mixer.  In  it  hundreds  of  tons  of 
the  flowing,  glowing  iron  are  mixed.  It  is  then 
drawn  off  in  a  giant  ladle,  like  water  from  a 
spigot,  is  carried  across  to  the  furnace  by  an  elec- 
tric crane,  and  poured  into  it.  Every  now  and 
then,  as  the  process  goes  on,  a  laborer  puts  a 
shovelful  of  limestone  into  the  mixture. 

When  the  scrap  has  melted,  and  the  contents 
of  the  caldron  are  cooked  enough;  when  the  im- 
purities have  been  driven  off  by  the  limestone  and 
tolled  away,  the  fiery  broth  is  "seasoned,"  as  it 
were,  with  the  proper  amount  of  carbon,  spiegel, 
ferro-manganese,  tungsten,  ferro-silicon,  vana- 
dium, or  whatever  is  necessary  to  give  the  de- 
sired quality  to  the  resulting  steel. 

Then  comes  the  tapping  of  the  furnace.    An 


IRON   ORE  .      67 

electric  crane  lifts  a  great  ladle  into  position,  a 
workman  jams  a  crowbar  through  a  clay-plugged 
hole  at  the  base,  and  out  flows  the  frenzied  stream 
into  the  ladle.  The  slag  rises  to  the  top  and  over- 
flows, congealing  on  the  outside  of  the  big  dipper. 
Then  the  crane  picks  up  the  ladle,  swings  it  over 
to  the  pouring  platform,  and  a  clay  plug  in  the 
ladle's  bottom  is  also  punched  out,  permitting  the 
purified  liquid  to  run  swiftly  out  into  molds.  It 
then  becomes  steel  ingots. 

Great  care  has  to  be  taken  in  handling  these 
ladles.  Should  there  be  a  few  drops  of  moisture 
clinging  to  the  inside  of  them  when  the  hot  metal 
is  poured  in,  a  great  explosion  may  occur  and 
cause  horrible  burns,  if  not  death,  to  the  work- 
men. And  the  "tappers"  and  others  who  manip- 
ulate the  dippers,  filling  and  emptying  them  of 
their  glowing  burdens,  must  use  the  utmost  skill 
and  caution  at  all  times  to  prevent  an  accidental 
spill.  Their  job  is  always  one  of  playing  tag 
with  the  Grim  Reaper  of  life.  Hardly  a  week 
goes  by  that  some  poor  fellow  is  not  caught, 
touched,  and  eternally  retired. 

There  are  two  other  important  types  of  steel 
furnaces — the  crucible  furnace  and  the  electric 
furnace. 

In  a  crucible  furnace  the  metal  is  placed  in 
graphite-clay  pots,  covers  are  put  on,  and  the  pots 
subjected  to  great  heat.  Silica  is  gradually  ab- 


68       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

sorbed  out  of  the  clay  in  the  pots,  and  is  trans- 
formed into  silicon  by  coming  into  contact  with 
the  carbon  in  the  steel.  The  silicon  in  its  turn 
absorbs  the  oxygen,  which  quiets  the  frothing 
and  foaming  contents  of  the  kettle,  and  they  are 
then  ready  to  be  poured  into  the  waiting  molds. 

The  electric  furnace  operates  in  much  the  same 
way.  But  its  heat  is  so  pure  that  there  is  no 
necessity  of  putting  the  steel  in  covered  pots  to 
keep  out  the  gases  and  other  impurities.  An 
electric  arc,  established  between  huge  electrodes 
and  the  surface  of  the  slag,  produces  the  heat  in 
such  a  furnace.  By  varying  the  materials  used  in 
the  formation  of  the  slag,  any  impurity  can  be 
coaxed  off,  leaving  the  glowing  steel  as  pure  as 
crystal.  The  alloys  are  mixed  in,  and  the  steel  is 
thus  made  fit  for  any  kind  of  use  intended. 

When  properly  mixed,  the  molten  liquid  is 
poured  into  ingot  molds,  where  it  hardens.  It  is 
then  ready  to  be  sold  to  the  steel  manufacturers 
of  the  world,  to  be  worked  up  into  all  those 
numerous  and  valuable  things  of  commerce  and 
industry  that  constitute  the  last  word  in  fine  steel. 


WHERE  COPPER  IS  KING 

COPPER  is  a  metal  which  has  been  known 
from  the  earliest  times,  and  is  frequently 
spoken  of  in  the  Bible.    We  find  it  stated 
there  that  Tubal  Cain  was  the  first  worker  of 
brass,   of  which  copper  is  the  principal  part. 
Palestine   indeed   abounded  in   copper.     King 
David  used  immense  quantities  of  it  in  building 
'his  famous  temple.    All  sorts  of  vessels   and 
weapons  of  copper  were  made  in  the  temple  and 
tabernacle. 

As  the  ores  of  copper  are  usually  in  beautiful 
colors,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  at- 
tracted early  attention.  In  ancient  times,  how- 
ever, it  seems  that  copper  was  not  employed  so 
much  by  itself  as  it  was  as  an  alloy  with  other 
metals,  such  as  silver,  zinc  and  tin.  When  alloyed 
with  tin  it  formed  what  is  known  as  bronze.  This 
compound  was  very  popular  for  coins,  medals  and 
statues,  and  is  still  used  for  tablets  and  statues 
to  a  considerable  extent.  The  famous  Statue  of 
Liberty,  in  New  York  Harbor,  is  made  of 
bronze. 

In  America,   the   Mound  Builders  and   In- 
69 


70       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

dians  used  native  copper  in  a  pure  state  long  be- 
fore the  white  man  made  his  appearance,  and  for 
a  long  time  they  jealously  guarded  the  secret  of 
the  location  of  the  lodes  from  which  they  obtained 
their  supplies  of  ore.  Wonderful  examples  of 
savage  copper  work,  in  the  shape  of  spear  points, 
arrowheads  and  knives,  have  been  unearthed  in 
some  localities.  These  show  that  the  Indians 
possessed  the  secret  of  tempering  the  reddish 
metal,  a  feat  that  modern  metallurgists  have  in 
vain  tried  to  equal. 

Although  copper  is  found  to-day  in  many  parts 
of  the  earth,  being  one  of  the  most  generally  dis- 
tributed metals,  the  United  States  produces  well 
over  half  of  the  world's  supply.  The  region 
around  Butte,  Montana,  is  exceedingly  rich  in  the 
mineral  and  the  southern  half  of  Arizona  is  now 
literally  sprinkled  with  phosphorous  copper 
mines.  The  Calumet  and  Hecla  mines,  formerly 
the  most  bountiful  in  the  country,  have  now  been 
surpassed  and  Michigan  has  dropped  to  third 
place  among  the  copper-producing  states. 

The  free  metal  is  not  often  found  in  large 
quantities,  though  a  specimen  weighing  2,020 
pounds  was  found  in  Brazil.  The  Academy  of 
Sciences  at  Petrograd  has  on  exhibition  an 
enormous  nugget  of  copper  which  was  found  in 
Kamtschatka,  and  there  is  another  specimen  in 
Canada  which  measures  fifteen  feet  around, 


WHERE  COPPER  IS  KING       71 

It  may  seem  strange  to  you  to  learn  that  so 
hard  a  substance  as  copper  is  soluble  in  water. 
But  it  is  so.  The  water  flowing  from  copper 
mines  always  contains  copper  in  a  dissolved 
state.  This  was  first  noticed  when  the  celebrated 
copper  spring  at  Wicklow  County,  Ireland,  was 
discovered,  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  discovery  was  due  to  a  miner  who, 
having  left  an  iron  shovel  in  the  water  of  the 
mine,  found  it  later  heavily  coated  with  copper. 
This  principle  has  since  furnished  miners  with  a 
simple  test  when  prospecting.  A  drop  of  nitric 
acid  is  placed  upon  the  specimen  to  be  tested  and 
allowed  to  remain  a  few  minutes,  whereupon  the 
blade  of  a  knife  is  drawn  across  the  spot  where 
the  acid  was  applied.  If  the  specimen  contains 
copper,  a  plainly  visible  amount  will  be  found 
clinging  to  the  blade  when  the  knife  is  raised. 

Copper  is  largely  employed  in  the  arts  as  a 
sheeting  for  the  bottoms  and  trimmings  of  ships, 
for  all  kinds  of  utensils  subjected  to  dampness 
(copper  will  not  rust) ;  for  telephone,  telegraph 
and  electric  wires;  for  tubing  and  many  other 
articles  too  numerous  to  mention.  Alloyed  with 
zinc  it  forms  brass;  alloyed  with  tin  it  produces 
gun-metal,  bronze,  bell-metal  and  speculum- 
metal.  It  is  used  in  gold  quartz  mills  in  the  form 
of  a  plate  amalgamated  with  mercury,  to  hold  the 
particles  of  gold  as  they  pass  over  it. 


72        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Oxide  of  copper  is  employed  in  glass  factories 
to  give  those  pretty  red  and  green  colors  to  the 
ware  which  you  have  admired.  As  a  sulphate, 
copper  yields  the  well-known  blue  vitriol,  which 
is  used  largely  by  the  dyer  and  calico  printer  and 
in  the  making  of  galvanic  batteries.  Lastly,  cop- 
per perhaps  is  more  familiar  to  us  all  in  its  use  in 
the  mints  of  all  civilized  countries  for  coining  the 
smaller  forms  of  legal  tender — with  us,  the  cent; 
with  Great  Britain,  the  penny;  and  for  similar 
small  coins  in  other  countries. 

But  we  can  get  a  better  idea  of  the  value  and 
importance  of  copper  if  we  take  a  trip  of  inspec- 
tion to  one  of  the  world's  most  famous  copper 
mines,  the  Calumet  and  Hecla  mine  in  the  Upper 
Peninsula  of  Michigan. 

In  every  direction  you  will  see,  towering  above 
the  surrounding  buildings,  tall,  elevator-like 
structures,  from  one  side  of  each  of  which  may  be 
seen  a  great  incline  running  down  into  the  mine 
near  it.  On  the  other  side  of  these  buildings,  or 
tipples,  are  high  frames  supporting  a  series  of 
wheels,  through  which  run  long  cables.  These 
extend  across  the  street  into  an  engine-house. 
Here  power  is  furnished  for  pulling  up  and  pay- 
ing back  the  little  cars,  called  "skips,"  in  which 
rock  is  brought  to  the  surface.  Another  form  of 
car,  termed  a  "cage,"  is  used  for  transporting  the 
miners  up  and  down  the  shaft. 


©  Underwood  and  Undersvood 

INSPECTING    A    VEIN    OF    COPPER    ORE 


WHERE  COPPER  IS  KING       73 

If  you  visit  the  interior  of  one  of  the  mines,  you 
would  find  Shaft  No.  5  a  most  interesting  one  to 
enter.  This  is  on  the  conglomerate  lode,  is  one  of 
the  richest  mine  entrances,  and  has  the  great 
depth  of  8,100  feet — almost  two  miles!  That  is 
going  down  into  the  earth  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, especially  if  it  is  your  first  time  down.  In 
fact,  there  is  only  one  mine  deeper,  and  that  is 
the  Tamarack,  which  is  not  far  distant.  The 
Tamarack  has  a  depth  of  9,000  feet. 

Shaft  No.  5  runs  down  at  an  angle  of  about  37 
degrees,  following  the  incline  of  the  copper  vein 
clear  along.  The  cage  which  carries  the  men 
is  a  box-like  car  with  seats  rising  one  above  the 
other,  similar  to  stair  steps,  or  much  like  seats  in 
a  theater.  If  the  seats  did  not  set  at  a  strong 
pitch  in  this  fashion,  the  men  would  slide  off  in 
going  up  and  down.  On  each  side  of  the  car  is 
a  strong  railing,  and  a  powerful  headlight  at  the 
end.  Beneath  are  wheels  running  upon  the  track 
of  the  incline.  A  strong  wire  cable  is  attached 
to  the  car,  and  as  the  engine  above  drives  this 
cable  around  a  drum,  like  an  endless  belt,  the 
cage  must  go  with  it.  When  he  wishes  to  stop, 
the  operator  in  the  cage  lets  go  of  the  cable  with 
his  clutch,  and  applies  the  brakes. 

As  you  glide  swiftly  down  into  the  dark  maw 
of  the  earth,  a  damp,  cool  breeze  strikes  your  face. 
The  headlight  casts  flickering,  will-o'-the-wisp 


74        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

shadows  along  the  walls.  Big  timbers  rush  sud- 
denly out  at  you  from  in  front,  and  instinctively 
you  dodge;  but  by  that  time  they  have  whisked 
by  you  and  new  ones  are  appearing.  These  are 
the  sturdy  props,  set  in  the  shaft  by  man,  to  keep 
the  walls  of  the  tunnel  from  caving  in. 

As  you  go  deeper  the  air  grows  cooler,  and  the 
size  of  the  timbers  increases.  Most  of  them  are 
now  more  than  two  feet  in  diameter,  and  if  you 
were  not  going  so  fast  you  would  see,  probably 
with  a  quaking  heart,  that  some  of  them  are  bent 
from  the  enormous  pressure  of  rock  above.  In- 
deed, your  headlight  does  illuminate  one  old- 
timer  long  enough  for  you  to  note  that  it  is  badly 
splintered.  Your  companions  look  at  it  casually, 
and  calmly  remark  that  before  another  twenty- 
four  hours  the  "proppers"  will  probably  have  it 
replaced.  Devoutly  you  pray  that  it  doesn't  give 
away  until  you  repass  on  your  outward  trip,  at 
least! 

It  is  not  long  before  the  pressure  of  air  on  your 
ears  becomes  uncomfortable.  Soon  it  is  so  ter- 
rific that  your  ears  begin  to  ache. 

The  miner  next  to  you  notes  your  trouble,  with 
a  sympathetic  grin.  "Ears  kickin'  up  a  fuss,  eh  ?" 
he  roars  out  so  that  you  can  hear  him  above  the 
din  and  racket  of  pounding  cage  wheels  on  the 
clattering  track.  "Jest  open  yer  mouth,  sonny, 
an'  give  a  good  swaller.  That'll  cure  it,  sure !" 


WHERE  COPPER  IS  KING       75 

You  take  this  advice,  and  to  your  surprise  and 
delight  the  pain  disappears. 

As  the  cage  bowls  along  you  observe  every 
little  way  a  sort  of  landing,  where  the  shaft  is 
wider,  and  where  a  beacon  light  dimly  burns  in  a 
fight  with  the  blackness  all  about.  These  are 
called  "levels."  They  are  the  stations  from  which 
miners  have  been  landed  and  taken  on  when  they 
worked  in  the  vicinity,  also  from  which  the  copper 
ore  they  have  loosened  has  been  loaded  for  its  trip 
up  to  the  world  of  sunlight. 

At  the  Forty-ninth  Level  is  a  pump,  used  for 
keeping  the  mine  free  of  water.  You  have  a  good 
chance  to  look  about  you  here,  because  the  cage 
stops  for  a  few  moments  to  let  off  some  of  your 
companions.  Before  you  go  on  you  note  that  you 
are  feeling  much  warmer.  A  look  at  the  ther- 
mometer surprises  you.  It  shows  94  degrees — 
good,  strong  summer  heat!  You  are  told  that 
this  is  due  to  the  efficient  working  of  the  venti- 
lating machinery  of  the  mine,  and  not  to  the  fact 
that  you  are  getting  closer  all  the  time  to  the 
boiling  fires  of  the  earth's  center,  and  you  heave 
a  sigh  of  relief  at  the  explanation. 

Really  the  truth  of  the  assertion  is  soon  after- 
ward made  manifest;  for  as  the  cage  drops  on 
down  and  reaches  the  Seventy-fourth  Level,  you 
find  the  temperature  75  degrees.  This  is  just  a 
little  too  cool  to  be  thoroughly  comfortable,  but 


76        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

you  are  advised  the  ventilators  cannot  entirely 
overcome  the  cold  air  here  owing  to  the  near 
presence  of  considerable  water.  Everything  is 
wet  and  slimy. 

At  the  Eightieth  Level  your  car  stops  and 
your  guide  steps  off  with  you.  The  walls  and 
footing  are  comparatively  dry,  and  you  are  given 
an  excellent  opportunity  for  observing  the 
method  of  mining.  Here  in  the  "drifts,"  or 
transverse  tunnels,  lie  tracks  'connecting  with 
the  shaft  tracks,  and  on  them  the  tram-cars  run 
forward  with  their  loads  of  ore  as  fast  as  they 
are  loaded.  The  propping  is  of  the  very  stoutest 
character.  Not  only  are  the  timbers  large  and 
tough,  but  they  are  planted  closer  together  than 
in  the  levels  higher  up,  so  that  greater  resistance 
can  be  maintained  against  the  greater  weight  of 
earthen  matter,  whose  pressure  is  something  tre- 
mendous. Three  months  is  the  limit  of  life  for 
these  huge  props.  Then  they  must  be  renewed. 

From  the  drift  the  "stopeing"  is  done.  This 
consists  in  taking  out  the  rock  in  80-foot  sections 
between  levels.  For  instance,  the  miners  in  the 
Eightieth  Level  work  upward  toward  the 
Seventy-ninth  Level,  allowing  the  ore  to  fall 
back  to  the  Eightieth  to  be  loaded  into  the  tram 
cars,  hauled  by  a  small  pneumatic  locomotive  to 
the  shaft,  dumped  there  into  the  first  empty  skip, 
and  sent  to  the  surface.  When  the  work  is  done 


WHERE  COPPER  IS  KING       77 

there  will  be  but  one  big  hole  from  the  Eightieth 
to  the  Seventy-ninth  Level,  and  so  on  down  until, 
when  the  entire  vein  has  been  worked  out,  there 
will  be  just  one  great  cellar  under  the  shell  of 
the  earth,  supported  here  and  there  by  pillars  of 
rock  and  wood. 

The  work  of  loosening  the  copper  ore  is  done 
in  much  the  same  manner  as  in  coal  mining.  That 
is,  automatic  drills,  looking  a  lot  like  gatling 
guns,  are  used  in  making  holes  in  the  rock 
around  the  ore-bearing  sections.  At  the  end  of 
his  shift  the  miner  inserts  sticks  of  dynamite  in 
these  holes,  and  when  the  men  have  all  gone  out 
of  harm's  way,  the  charges  are  exploded  by  elec- 
tricity. There  is  a  terrific  din,  which  will  cause 
your  ears  to  ring  for  hours  afterward,  as  the 
shots  go  off,  one  following  closely  upon  the  heels 
of  another,  and  the  rock  goes  tumbling  down  in 
a  great  sloughing  pile. 

In  the  next  shift,  the  trammers  clean  up  this 
loose  rock  and  send  it  to  the  shaft.  As  the  skip 
load  of  ore  goes  up  to  the  surface,  it  runs  straight 
into  the  tipple  at  the  mine  mouth.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  the  large  pieces  of  rock,  it  is  dumped 
automatically  into  a  bin,  below  which  stand  the 
ore  cars.  The  large  chunks  are  carried  into  the 
crusher,  where  heavy  steel  rollers  squeeze  them 
into  many  small  fragments,  as  you  might  crush 
a  lump  of  baked  mud  in  your  mother's  clothes- 


78       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

wringer.  The  pieces  then  fall  through  the  bin, 
which  has  a  swinging  bottom,  as  fast  as  cars  ap- 
pear below  to  receive  them. 

The  ore  is  then  brought  to  a  stamp  mill,  where 
the  crushing  process  is  carried  much  further. 
Gradually  powerful  little  trip-hammers  break  up 
the  pieces.  Each  time  they  are  projected  onto  a 
screen  of  diminishing  sized  mesh,  until  all  the 
rock  is  as  fine  as  ordinary  sand. 

Then  comes  the  separation  work.  Remember 
that  it  is  not  the  ordinary  rock  itself  which  is 
wanted,  but  the  smallest  part  of  it — the  pure 
copper  ore.  Up  to  this  point  it  has  been  neces- 
sary to  dig,  handle  and  convey  a  dozen  pounds  of 
common,  worthless  rock,  in  order  to  secure  the 
pound  of  pure  copper  that  it  contained.  Now  the 
wheat  is  to  be  separated  from  its  chaff,  as  it  were. 

At  first  it  might  strike  you  as  a  very  simple, 
even  crude,  method  for  so  big  an  undertaking. 
But  it  is  efficient,  nevertheless;  and  simplicity  is 
always  desirable  where  good  results  are  not  lost 
by  its  adoption.  Specific  gravity  is  the  agency 
used  in  this  case.  Since,  as  with  gold,  the  free 
copper  is  considerably  heavier  than  the  rock  in 
which  it  is  found,  the  valuable  metallic  sand  will 
fall  to  the  bottom,  when  cast  in  flowing  water, 
and  the  rock  sand  go  drifting  onward.  This  pro- 
cess of  settling  is  further  assisted  by  shooting  a 
powerful  jet  of  water  up  into  the  air.  The  mixed 


WHERE  COPPER  IS  KING      79 

sands  fall  down  into  this  jet;  the  rock  waste  is 
carried  away  by  the  supporting  spray;  while  the 
copper  sands,  for  the  most  part,  descend  straight. 
A  light  rubber  ball  dancing  at  the  apex  of  a 
fountain  jet — a  spectacle  most  people  have 
seen — is  a  good  illustration  of  the  rock  sand  part 
of  this  action. 

But  this  does  not  take  out  all  of  the  copper 
particles.  So  the  separation  process  is  con- 
tinued. At  last  the  sand  reaches  a  sort  of  large 
table  having  a  distinct  slope  to  it.  Thin  strips  of 
wood  run  up  and  down  this,  to  keep  in  the  water 
and  sand  which  flow  over  the  table  while  it  shakes 
back  and  forth  very  gently  and  regularly.  What- 
ever copper  grains  are  in  the  mixture  settle  in 
the  troughs,  while  the  rock  sands  are  carried  over 
with  the  rush  of  water. 

Smelting  is  the  last  step  in  preparing  the  ore 
for  the  market.  It  is  put  into  a  furnace  and 
melted,  whereupon  the  foreign  substances  rise 
to  the  surface  in  a  kind  of  scum,  and  are  scooped 
off.  Oxygen  is  then  blown  into  the  molten  mass 
to  drive  out  the  remaining  impurities,  but  the 
oxygen  itself  must  be  gotten  rid  of.  This  is  done 
by  inserting  a  stick  of  wood  down  into  the  molten 
copper.  The  oxygen  promptly  burns  itself  up, 
and  the  copper  is  then  drawn  off  in  a  pure  state 
and  poured  into  molds  for  ingots. 

It  was  in  the  early  days  of  this  famous  copper 


80       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

region  that  the  great  conglomerate  vein  now 
owned  by  the  Calumet  and  Hecla  interests  was 
uncovered.  In  those  days  the  finding  by  hunters 
and  woodsmen  of  old  copper  pits  dug  by  the 
ancient  miners  was  of  frequent  occurrence.  But 
nobody  knew  that  these  had  been  opened  up  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  copper.  Nobody  knew 
that  there  was  such  a  thing  anywhere  around  as 
copper.  The  secret  had  died  with  the  ancient 
miners. 

The  story  goes  that  one  day  a  man  out  hunt- 
ing wild  hogs,  which  were  very  plentiful  then, 
routed  out  a  big  bristly  fellow  which  made  fast 
time  through  the  timber,  somehow  managing  to 
evade  the  two  shots  the  hunter  sent  after  him. 
But  a  hog  is  too  short-legged  and  heavy-bodied 
to  run  very  fast,  and  the  hunter  kept  this  one  in 
sight  till  he  vanished  into  one  of  the  strange  pits 
which  marked  the  neighborhood. 

This  was  surely  a  huge  mistake  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Piggy,  so  far  as  his  welfare  was  considered. 
But  for  the  welfare  of  the  world  at  large  it  was 
one  of  the  most  fortunate  things  that  ever  hap- 
pened. When  the  hunter  came  to  the  brink  of 
the  hollow,  the  animal  was  frantically  trying  to 
scramble  up  the  farther  side,  making  the  dirt  fly 
with  his  sharp-pointed  little  hoofs.  He  presented 
a  capital  mark  during  his  slow  headway.  Having 
rammed  home  another  charge  in  his  gun,  the  man 


WHERE  COPPER  IS  KING       81 

took  careful  aim  and  this  time  brought  the  hog 
to  earth. 

As  he  came  up  to  get  his  trophy,  the  hunter 
noticed  something  bright  shining  on  the  ground 
where  the  animal's  hoofs  had  scraped  off  the  thin, 
overlying  earthy  deposits.  Looking  closer,  he 
found  several  other  salmon-colored  pieces  of 
rock  like  the  first.  He  did  not  know  copper 
when  he  saw  it,  but  was  sufficiently  interested 
in  the  luster  of  the  pretty  bits  of  rock  to 
chip  off  some  pieces  with  his  hunting-axe,  and 
later  on  showed  them  to  a  friend  who  was  better 
posted  in  geology  than  himself.  This  friend, 
greatly  excited,  told  him  that  the  bits  of  rock 
contained  superb  specimens  of  copper,  and  wished 
to  be  led  to  the  old  pit.  There  more  investigation 
showed  the  rocky  ground  to  be  fairly  studded 
with  ore  containing  the  rich,  pure  copper.  The 
vein  thus  uncovered  by  an  accident  was  the  so- 
called  conglomerate  vein  which  has  been  such  a 
bonanza  to  the  Calumet  and  Hecla  company 
ever  since. 

When,  in  bygone  ages,  the  rock  of  this  section 
had  become  molten,  so  intense  was  the  heat  from 
below  that  such  materials  as  gravel,  sand  and 
rock,  had  been  mixed  with  the  pure  molten  copper 
until  all  became  a  batter-like  mass  which  cooled  in 
the  form  of  a  gigantic  wedge  or  layer  known  to 
geologists  and  miners  as  a  "conglomerate"  vein. 


82        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

From  the  surface  this  vein  runs  at  a  strong 
angle  down  into  the  crust  of  the  earth,  as  a  far- 
leaning  post  might  do.  Just  how  deep  it  goes 
nobody  knows,  and  probably  never  will  know. 
Shafts  have  followed  it,  however,  very  nearly  two 
miles  down,  and  still  the  rich  ore  is  there  in  large 
quantities. 

The  Calumet  and  Hecla  Mining  Company  was 
organized  fifty  years  ago,  and  began  work  on 
two  separate  mines  along  the  conglomerate  vein. 
One  of  these  was  called  the  Calumet ;  the  other, 
the  Hecla.  Each  mine  consisted  of  numerous 
shafts,  so  extensive  was  the  layer.  Later,  as  the 
result  of  further  exploration  in  the  surrounding 
country,  other  mines  were  opened  up  by  the 
organization.  These  were  the  Ahmeek,  the  Al- 
louez,  the  Tamarack,  the  Centennial,  the  Isle 
Royale,  the  Superior,  the  Laurium,  and  the  La 
Salle.  A  few  years  ago  the  Osceola  mine,  which 
had  belonged  to  another  copper  company,  was 
also  taken  over. 

During  all  these  years  many  another  mine,  too, 
has  been  opened  up  by  the  C.  and  H.  people,  only 
to  be  abandoned  because  copper  was  not  found 
in  paying  quantities  after  diamond  drill  had  un- 
covered deceiving  amounts  of  the  ore.  So  there 
have  been  some  "downs"  sprinkled  in  with  the 
"ups,"  which  Dame  Fortune  has  handed  out  to 
this  big  mining  corporation,  but  the  "downs" 


WHERE  COPPER  IS  KING       83 

have  been  of  such  small  dimensions  as  compared 
with  the  tape-busting  "ups,"  that  the  business 
has  been  a  huge  success  from  the  very  first.  To 
the  two  big  conglomerate  mines,  the  Calumet 
and  the  Hecla,  is  due  the  chief  credit  for  this 
success, 

But  it  is  not  the  mere  taking  out  of  the  copper- 
bearing  rock  in  which  the  Calumet  and  Hecla 
company  is  interested.  It  practically  owns  the 
two  large  counties,  Houghton  and  Keweenaw, 
where  its  mines  are  situated.  And  the  township 
of  Calumet  is  really  its  own  property,  every  inch, 
except  for  one  or  two  small  lots.  Houses,  stores, 
churches,  schools  and  other  buildings,  are  erected 
in  this  township  only  because  the  C.  and  H.  com- 
pany says  they  may  be. 

The  taxes  on  this  real  estate  are  paid  by  the 
mining  concern.  It  furnishes  water,  electric 
light,  fire  protection,  police  protection,  and  all 
other  public  conveniences,  to  all  the  various  vil- 
lages of  the  township.  The  company  has  built 
churches,  schools,  libraries,  theaters,  hospitals, 
and  other  public  edifices. 

Nor  have  amusements  been  forgotten.  Excel- 
lent baseball  grounds  and  grandstands  may  be 
found.  Here  play  teams  representing  various 
departments  of  the  big  copper  industry,  all  of 
which  belong  to  a  league.  In  the  winter  months 
a  hockey  league  is  maintained  in  the  same  way, 


84       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

and  skiing  courses  are  laid  out  and  kept  in 
the  pink  of  condition.  A  brass  band,  famous 
wherever  it  is  heard,  is  another  gift  of  the  H.  and 
C.  people  to  their  employes. 

There  is  still  another  secret  of  this  company's 
success,  one  which  touches  the  employe  even 
more  directly.  When  you  think  of  a  mining 
camp  your  mind  instinctively  pictures  a  bunk- 
house  and  the  narrow  streets  and  dirty,  shambling 
buildings  of  the  mining  settlements  of  the  coal 
fields.  In  the  copper  country  you  never  see  such 
unsightly  shacks.  Instead  you  behold  row  upon 
row  of  neat  frame  houses,  each  with  its  own  lot 
of  60-feet  frontage,  everything  neat  and  orderly. 
These  houses  are  rented  to  employes  at  a  low 
rate,  the  rental  including  sewage  system,  free 
water  and  free  garbage  collection.  Coal  is  sold 
to  the  tenant  at  cost  price.  Each  back  yard  is 
large  enough  for  a  pretty  little  vegetable  garden, 
and  seldom  will  you  find  a  home,  as  you  pass 
along,  which  does  not  raise  enough  vegetables 
to  supply  the  family  table  throughout  the  sea- 
son with  fresh,  wholesome  foods. 

This  company  has  produced  close  to  $400,000,- 
000  worth  of  copper  since  its  organization,  and 
paid  dividends  of  more  than  $125,000,000  on  its 
early  $25  shares.  And  this  is  only  one  of  several 
sections  in  America  where  copper  is  king. 


VI 


GOLD  has  long  been  esteemed  as  the  most 
precious  of  metals.  From  the  earliest 
period  of  the  world's  history  it  has  been 
used  by  man  as  his  chief  medium  of  exchange — 
for  buying  and  selling;  also  for  personal  adorn- 
ment in  the  way  of  jewelry.  Although  the 
quantity  of  gold  found,  compared  with  other 
metals,  is  very  small,  yet  gold  leads  them  all  for 
being  well  scattered  over  the  universe.  It  is 
found  in  nearly  all  hilly  and  mountainous 
countries. 

In  its  pure  state  gold  has  a  deep  yellow  color 
and  a  high  metallic  lustre.  It  is  nearly  as  soft  as 
lead,  and  can  be  easily  beaten  out  cold  into  sheets 
so  thin  that  you  can  see  light  through  them.  And 
it  can  be  drawn  out  so  fine  that  a  mere  grain 
will  make  500  feet  of  wire,  wire  as  dainty  as  the 
finest  spider's  gauze.  If  you  were  to  put  it  in 
a  fire  you  would  be  astonished  to  find  that, 
although  so  soft  a  metal,  it  will  take  2,016  de- 
grees Fahrenheit  to  melt  it.  While  most  of  the 
common  acids  will  eat  into  such  hard  metals  as 
iron  and  steel,  they  have  no  effect  whatever  on 

85 


86       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

gold.  But  chlorine  and  nitro-imiriatic  acid  will 
corrode  and  dissolve  it,  forming  what  is  called 
chloride  of  gold,  which  is  very  soft  and  putty-like 
and  can  be  dissolved  in  ordinary  water. 

Did  you  ever  suspect  that  your  ring  was  not 
solid  gold?  That  your  stickpin,  your  watchcase, 
that  five-dollar  goldpiece  in  your  purse,  were  not 
the  simon-pure,  sure-enough  yellow  metal  ?  That 
nobody,  prince  or  pauper,  wears  jewelry  made 
of  gold  and  nothing  else  ? 

There  is  a  very  good  reason  why  it  should 
not  be  pure.  Generally  speaking,  all  manu- 
factured articles  of  so-called  gold,  whether  money 
or  jewelry,  are  alloyed;  that  is,  other  metals  are 
mixed  in  with  the  gold.  This  is  no  humbug  on 
the  buyers  and  users ;  it  is  a  good  thing  and  per- 
fectly lawful,  provided  the  quantity  of  pure  gold 
in  each  piece  of  jewelry  is  plainly  marked  upon  it 
so  that  you  know  what  you  are  getting. 

You  see,  gold  in  itself  is  altogether  too  soft  a 
metal  to  stand  the  constant  handling  given  coins, 
and  the  wear  coming  upon  jewelry.  Very  soon 
the  outlines  and  engravings  would  be  obliterated, 
and  all  form,  beauty,  and  character,  lost.  In  the 
case  of  money  it  would  even  give  rogues  a  good 
chance  to  scrape  gold  off  of  coins,  or  "sweat"  it 
off  with  acids,  and  still  be  able  to  dispose  of  them 
at  face  value. 

So  the  mints  and  goldsmiths  put  harder  metals 


WONDERS   OF   GOLD  87 

with  gold  in  order  to  make  money  and  jewelry 
wear  longer.  Copper  and  silver  are  the  alloys 
commonly  used.  These  blend  nicely  with  the 
lustre  of  the  gold,  and  if  used  sparingly  do  not 
change  it  materially  while  giving  it  much  longer 
life.  The  goldpieces  of  the  United  States  con- 
tain about  eleven  parts  gold  to  one  of  copper. 
Jewelry  is  marked  by  "carats"  (K),  a  carat  be- 
ing an  old-time  weight  equal  to  l-24th  of  a 
troy  ounce.  Pure  gold  is  spoken  of  as  being 
"twenty-four  carats  fine";  therefore,  if  you  have 
a  ring  marked  "14  K"  you  know  that  fourteen 
parts  of  it  are  gold,  and  ten  parts  alloy.  Jewelry 
of  a  light  yellow  color  denotes  silver  alloy,  which 
is  the  most  durable.  If  the  yellow  is  quite  deep 
you  may  confidently  believe  that  copper  has 
been  used. 

Not  only  is  gold  extensively  employed  in  coin- 
age and  ornaments  of  dress,  as  well  as  plate,  but 
we  find  it  widely  used  in  the  arts  for  gilding  and 
plating,  as  it  imparts  to  materials  often  the  most 
worthless  the  semblance  of  its  own  unrivaled 
richness  and  splendor. 

Just  when  or  where  gold  was  first  discovered 
and  made  use  of  will  probably  never  be  known, 
but  we  do  know  that  it  was  familiar  in  the  time  of 
King  Solomon,  who  used  it  lavishly  in  his  temple; 
and  even  before  this,  when  the  Lord  requested 
Moses  to  employ  it  generously  in  constructing 


the  famous  ark  of  the  covenant.  "And  thou  shalt 
overlay  it  with  pure  gold,  within  and  without 
shalt  thou  overlay  it,  and  shalt  make  upon  it  a 
crown  of  gold  round  about.  And  thou  shalt  cast 
four  rings  of  gold  for  it,  and  put  them  in  the 
four  corners  thereof;  and  two  rings  shall  be  in 
the  one  side  of  it,  and  two  rings  in  the  other  side 
of  it." 

There  is  an  old  account  of  a  province  visited 
by  De  Soto  in  his  expedition  of  1538-40,  which 
was  located  in  the  section  now  known  as  North 
Carolina.  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  invasion 
the  country  was  ruled  by  a  beautiful  Indian 
queen  called  Xualla.  Here  De  Soto  found 
trinkets  and  ornaments  of  gold,  and  tomahawks 
formed  from  an  alloy  of  gold  and  copper,  and 
his  adventurers  were  wild  with  the  thought  that 
a  great  gold  lode  itself  must  be  near.  But  they 
searched  in  vain,  and  finally  went  away  disap- 
pointed. The  Indians  kept  their  secret.  The 
white  men  did  not  know  that  less  than  fifteen 
miles  from  them,  on  the  Carolina  side  of  the  Sa- 
vannah River,  lay  one  of  the  richest  gold 
deposits  in  the  world.  In  1820,  however,  Ameri- 
cans found  this  and  began  to  mine  it.  Within 
ten  years  the  annual  output  was  close  to  half  a 
million  dollars.  At  Charlotte  a  United  States 
mint  was  established,  to  coin  the  gold  conven- 
iently. 


WONDERS    OF    GOLD  89 

Closely  following  this,  gold  mining  was  opened 
up  in  Virginia,  then  in  Georgia,  Alabama  and 
Tennessee.  Georgia  has  been  the  greatest  pro- 
ducer of  any  of  the  Southern  States.  These 
mines  supplied  most  of  the  gold  in  the  United 
States  up  to  the  time  of  the  great  discovery  of 
the  yellow  metal  in  California,  in  1849.  The 
credit  for  this  discovery  goes  to  James  W.  Mar- 
shall, who  "struck  it"  rich  enough  to  excite  him- 
self into  widely  publishing  the  news,  causing  a 
grand  stampede  of  adventurers  into  the  State 
from  all  quarters  of  the  country. 

But  there  were  really  others  who  first  found 
gold  in  California.  Its  existence  was  known  to 
both  Indians  and  Mexicans  long  before  Marshall 
could  lisp  his  own  name.  According  to  Spanish 
records  and  maps,  gold  had  been  taken  out  of 
Arizona  and  California  by  Spanish-Mexican 
miners  as  early  as  1748,  a  good  hundred  years 
before  the  "discovery"  in  California.  But  it  is 
safe  to  believe  that  the  native  red  men  had  used 
the  metal  before  this.  Shortly  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Catholic  missions  in  Lower  California, 
the  Indians  who  were  sent  into  the  upper  country 
to  persuade  other  natives  to  submit  to  the  guard- 
ianship of  the  priests  spoke  of  the  "shining  sands" 
in  the  streams  which  they  crossed  in  their  journey. 
Some  even  returned  wearing  crudely  beaten 
bracelets  made  of  the  rich  yellow  material.  How- 


90       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

ever,  the  whites  they  met  suffered  the  "shining 
sands"  to  remain  where  nature  had  placed  them, 
because  the  priests  declared  the  search  for  gold  to 
be  evil  in  the  sight  of  God. 

As  we  have  said,  a  man  by  the  name  of  James 
Marshall  was  the  first  to  awaken  wide  interest 
in  the  gold  in  California.  Marshall  was  engaged 
by  one  Captain  Sutter  to  build  a  sawmill  at  Co- 
loma,  on  the  American  River.  Marshall  hired 
Peter  L.  Wimmer  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Jane, 
to  go  with  him,  to  assist  in  the  work.  They  ar- 
rived at  their  wild  destination  in  the  year  1847, 
and  at  once  proceeded  to  erect  a  little  shack  in 
which  to  live.  As  soon  as  this  was  done  the  men, 
with  ten  Indians  who  had  accompanied  them,  be- 
gan to  put  up  the  sawmill. 

The  work  progressed  slowly,  as  the  Indians 
were  poor  carpenters.  But  during  the  month  of 
December,  the  dam  and  headgate  had  been  com- 
pleted. Water  was  turned  on  at  night,  so  as  to 
wash  out  the  sand  and  gravel  which  had  been  dug 
up  by  the  men  during  the  day.  Every  morning 
Marshall  inspected  the  millrace,  to  see  how  well 
the  washing  had  cleaned  it  out.  On  these  occa- 
sions he  often  noticed  tiny  shining  specks  in  the 
bottom,  but  being  unfamiliar  with  the  appear- 
ance of  gold,  paid  no  heed  to  them. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th  of  January,  1848, 
both  Marshall  and  Wimmer  were  walking  lei- 


WONDERS    OF    GOLD  91 

surely  along  the  tailrace  of  the  mill,  when  all  at 
once  the  former  stooped  over  and  picked  up  a  bit 
of  glinting  substance  that  lay  on  a  flat  rock  in 
the  now  dry  bed  of  the  race.  Over  and  over  he 
turned  the  object  in  his  hands.  The  more  he  in- 
spected it  the  more  he  was  struck  with  its  close 
resemblance  in  outline  to  the  "bear"  which  had 
adorned  the  State  flag  he  had  lately  helped  to 
raise  as  an  emblem  of  California's  independence. 
While  he  admired  the  deep  lustre  of  the  speci- 
men, he  would  never  have  picked  it  up  except  for 
this  remarkable  resemblance  it  bore  to  that 
"bear." 

Handing  it  to  Wimmer,  he  said,  "What  do  you 
think  of  that,  Pete?" 

Peter  took  it,  juggled  it  a  moment,  squinted 
closely  at  it,  then  exclaimed,  "Jim,  I'll  bet  a 
cooky  that's  a  chunk  of  solid  gold.  I'd  gladly 
let  you  pay  me  off  in  that  metal!" 

Jennie  Wimmer,  the  housekeeper,  had  pre- 
pared to  make  a  kettle  of  soft  soap  that  day.  The 
two  men  had  fixed  her  kettle  of  lye  over  the  fire 
before  they  left  the  cabin. 

Now  Marshall  spoke  up.  "Pete,"  said  he,  "we 
will  send  this  lump  to  Jennie,  and  let  her  boil  it 
in  her  soap-kettle  all  day.  If  it  doesn't  tarnish 
it  must  surely  be  gold." 

Wimmer  then  called  his  young  son,  and  the 
boy  started  home  with  the  message  and  the  shin- 


02        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

ing  thing  clutched  in  his  fist.  On  the  way  he  saw 
a  saucy  squirrel.  Before  he  thought  he  had  made 
a  missile  of  his  possession,  but  though  he  missed 
his  mark  he  very  luckily  struck  the  trunk  of  the 
tree  to  which  the  squirrel  had  been  clinging,  and 
was  able  to  find  it  again.  Afraid  to  risk  another 
shot,  he  went  on  to  his  mother  with  the  yellow 
"stone." 

No  inquiry  was  made  about  the  specimen  until 
the  next  morning  at  breakfast.  Then  the  men 
began  to  joke  Mrs.  Wimmer  about  it.  What 
kind  of  soap  had  the  "bear"  made?  Would  it  do 
away  with  the  necessity  of  grease  in  soap-mak- 
ing? If  so,  there  was  plenty  more  of  the  stuff  out 
there  in  the  sand  and  gravel! 

Even  Jennie  had  forgotten  the  lump  in  her 
kettle  for  the  moment.  She  now  went  to  it, 
poured  the  soft-soap  into  a  hewed  trough  made 
to  receive  it,  and  at  the  bottom  found  the  lump — - 
a  beautiful,  lustrous  thing,  polished  bright  by  the 
action  of  the  lye.  Quickly  she  returned  to  the 
cabin  with  it,  throwing  it  on  the  table  before  the 
two  men.  "There  is  your  nugget !"  she  cried.  "I 
knew  it  was  pure  gold  the  moment  I  saw  it.  Now 
you  can  see  it  for  yourself!" 

Other  small  nuggets  were  collected  by  Mar- 
shall and  Wimmer.  Four  or  five  days  later,  the 
former  took  them  to  Fort  Sutter,  where  he  was 
called  to  report  progress  to  Captain  Sutter  him- 


93 

self.  Here  convincing  tests  of  the  nuggets  were 
made  with  nitric  acid,  and  Captain  Sutter  accom- 
panied him  back  to  the  mill  on  his  return. 
Everybody  was  greatly  excited.  Marshall  gave 
his  first  nugget  to  Mrs.  Wimmer,  saying  that  she 
could  have  it  to  make  a  ring.  Instead  of  complet- 
ing the  sawmill,  every  one  went  to  gathering  in 
the  precious  gold.  Yellow  grains  of  rock  were 
to  be  preferred  many  times  over  to  yellow  grains 
of  wood.  Let  sawdust  take  care  of  itself!  But 
a  little  later  the  mill  was  finished  and  sawed  the 
lumber  to  make  cabins  and  "rockers." 

Today  none  of  that  little  group  who  were  first 
in  the  field  are  alive.  James  W.  Marshall  died 
in  1885,  alone,  in  his  cabin  at  Kelsey's  Diggings, 
Eldorado  County,  with  not  enough  money  to  pay 
his  funeral  expenses.  Like  the  others  of  his  lit- 
tle company  he  had  found  much  gold,  but  he 
could  not  keep  it. 

News  of  the  finding  of  large  quantities  of  gold 
in  the  Coloma  district  spread  abroad  like  wild- 
fire. In  nearly  every  city  and  town  of  the  North 
and  South,  and  even  the  East,  men  left  their 
work  and  hied  excitedly  westward  in  groups  or 
singly.  By  the  spring  of  1849  more  than  thirty 
thousand  brave,  adventurous  fellows  had  gath- 
ered at  Independence,  Missouri;  Leavenworth, 
Kansas;  St.  Joseph,  Missouri;  and  Council 
Bluffs,  Iowa,  ready  to  face  the  dangers  and  trials 


94       SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

of  the  long  trip  across  the  plains  and  mountains, 
where  lurked  the  fiercest  of  wild  animals  and  the 
most  treacherous  of  Indians.  In  long  caravans 
of  canvas-canopied  wagons  they  moved,  many 
with  their  wives  and  children.  Finally  they  ar- 
rived— but  numbers  were  missing,  pathetic 
mounds  of  earth  all  along  the  weary  trail  mark- 
ing the  last  resting-places  of  women,  children 
and  men. 

The  quartz  rock  which  contains  the  gold  is 
found  in  narrow  veins  which  fill  up  what  were 
once  open  cracks  in  the  older  rocks.  This  quartz 
vein  is  so  much  harder  than  the  other  rocks  that 
the  wind  and  the  rain  and  the  frost  cannot  eat  or 
break  it  away.  As  the  soft  rocks  on  each  side  of 
it  are  worn  away  the  gold  quartz  is  robbed  of 
support;  it  falls  down,  and  is  left  in  lumps  on 
the  hillside.  When  the  winter  and  spring  floods 
come  the  pieces  of  quartz  are  carried  down  by 
the  rushing  waters  into  the  bed  of  the  nearest 
mountain  stream.  There  the  current  knocks 
them  against  coarser  rocks  and  boulders  until 
they  are  smashed  to  atoms.  The  small,  heavy 
particles  of  gold  drop  to  the  bottom,  and  the  rest 
of  the  rock  bits,  being  lighter,  are  carried  away 
to  some  large  river. 

A  great  many  grains  of  gold,  however,  take 
another  course.  These  cling  to  the  ground  and 
are  not  carried  into  streams  by  the  rains  and 


WONDERS    OF   GOLD  95 

floods,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  they  lodge 
in  crevices  of  rocky  slopes  which  protect  them 
until  loose  gravel,  sand  and  earth,  are  plastered 
over  them  by  the  settling  waters.  As  the  years 
go  by  the  accumulation  of  dirt  on  top  of  them  in- 
creases, and  they  become  well  buried. 

You  will  see  by  this  that  the  streams  offer  a 
chance  to  get  gold  with  the  least  exertion,  as  it  is 
already  exposed,  or  at  least  very  nearly  so.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  the  miners  who  first  rushed 
into  the  California  gold  fields  sought  out  likely 
streams  and  looked  for  what  they  wanted 
in  the  gravel  and  sand  of  their  beds.  This  type 
of  mining,  which  had  no  real  digging  to  it,  they 
called  "placer  mining."  Each  miner  had  a  pan 
of  tin  or  iron  which  he  filled  about  half -full  of 
the  gravel,  or  "pay  dirt,"  as  he  called  it.  Then 
holding  it  under  water,  he  shook  off  the  stones 
and  mud  over  the  side  of  the  pan,  leaving  grains 
of  gold  mixed  with  black  sand  at  the  bottom. 
This  black  sand  was  iron  pyrite.  By  skilfully 
dipping  the  pan  under  the  water,  and  giving  it  a 
whirling  motion,  and  a  tilt  now  and  then,  prac- 
tically all  of  the  black  sand  was  coaxed  over  the 
edge  of  the  pan,  leaving  small  particles  of  free 
gold  in  the  bottom. 

You  might  find  it  interesting  to  try  out  this 
method  of  placer  mining  in  a  make-believe  way, 
then  you  will  have  a  very  vivid  idea  of  just  how 


96        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

the  miner  does  it.  In  a  dish-pan  put  some  coarse 
sand,  some  gravel,  a  little  clay  or  mud,  and  a 
handful  of  shot  varying  from  the  finest  bird  shot 
to  BB.  Hold  the  pan  in  both  hands  under  a 
running  faucet  and  manipulate  it  constantly  with 
a  whirling  and  tipping  motion  in  the  manner  pre- 
viously described.  The  aim  is  to  get  all  the  soil 
matter  out  of  the  pan  without  losing  any  of  the 
shot.  The  quicker  you  can  do  this  the  better 
"gold  miner"  you  are. 

Any  earth  which  yields  ten  cents  worth  of 
gold  to  the  pan  is  known  as  "pay  dirt."  Fifteen 
cents  to  the  pan  is  good.  Twenty  cents  to  the 
pan  is  rich.  About  forty  panfuls  can  be  washed 
out  by  one  man  in  a  day. 

Another  contrivance  which  soon  came  into  use 
in  the  California  gold  fields  was  the  "cradle." 
This  was  a  long  box,  sometimes  only  a  hollowed- 
out  log.  At  the  top  was  a  sieve  which  sifted  out 
the  stones.  Nailed  to  the  bottom  were  small 
cleats  of  wood,  or  "riffles,"  which  kept  the  water 
from  running  so  fast  as  to  sweep  the  gold  out  of 
the  cradle  with  it. 

This  device  was  placed  on  rockers,  and  was 
also  tilted  slightly.  The  miner  shoveled  the 
gravel  into  the  top  of  the  cradle,  and  his  partner 
rocked  it.  The  sieve  held  back  the  stones,  the 
water  broke  up  the  lumps  of  earth  and  gravel, 
washed  them  down  the  cradle,  the  grains  of  gold 


WONDERS    OF    GOLD  97 

were  stopped  by  the  riffles,  and  sank  to  the 
bottom. 

Placer  mining  is  the  simplest  of  all  processes 
for  getting  gold  out  of  the  ground,  but  it  can  only 
be  operated  on  a  paying  basis  where  a  supply  of 
water  can  be  had  for  the  sluicing  purposes. 
Even  then  the  profits  as  a  rule  are  not  very  large. 
The  early  miners  were  not  long  in  recogniz- 
ing this  fact.  At  first  they  thought  only  of  get- 
ting the  free  gold,  or  that  which  lay  in  the  sand 
and  gravel,  but  after  awhile  they  got  to  think- 
ing that  that  gold  dust  must  have  come  from 
some  place  where  there  was  probably  much  more 
of  it,  and  they  began  to  trace  it.  Thus  they  fol- 
lowed up  the  streams  into  the  mountains.  As 
they  went  they  made  many  important  discoveries. 
They  found  that  this  gold  had  come  from  beds 
where  in  ancient  times  rivers  had  flowed.  There 
was  gold  still  remaining  in  these  beds,  but  it  was 
covered  quite  deeply  with  layers  of  gravel,  sand, 
and  soil,  leaves  and  moss,  making  a  good  deal  of 
digging  necessary. 

The  men  used  to  placer  mining  soon  began 
to  frown.  The  digging  was  very  hard.  Worse 
still  they  often  spent  days  and  weeks  making  a 
pit,  only  to  find  less  than  ten  cents'  worth  of  gold 
in  it.  Some  of  the  greenhorns  found  what  they 
thought  were  wonderful  nuggets,  but  older 
miners  laughed  heartily  when  they  brought  the 


98        SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

specimens  to  them,  and  said  they  had  discovered 
pyrite,  or  "fool's  gold." 

Finally  some  miner,  tiring  of  digging,  thought 
that  if  a  powerful  stream  of  water  could  be  di- 
rected against  the  great  banks  of  earth,  the  layers 
of  soil  could  soon  be  washed  away  on  a  wholesale 
plan,  the  muddy  flood  diverted  into  sluices,  and 
the  gold  easily  separated  and  saved.  This  was 
done.  Great  reservoirs  were  built  high  up  in 
the  mountains,  and  water  was  brought  down 
by  means  of  ditches,  pipes  or  flumes,  to  the 
scene  of  mining  operations.  The  ditches  and 
flumes  poured  the  waters  directly  out  upon  the 
banks,  like  a  stream;  but  the  pipes  had  a  large 
hose  fastened  to  them,  such  as  a  fireman  uses, 
with  a  nozzle  at  the  other  end,  from  which  a 
swirling,  gushing  stream  could  be  thrown  any- 
where within  reach  by  the  miner  handling  the 
hose.  This  is  called  "hydraulic  mining,"  and 
usually  brings  far  better  returns  than  placer 
mining. 

After  a  few  years  large  companies  had  been 
organized  for  mining  gold  in  California  on  a  sys- 
tematic basis.  These  men  employed  skilled  geol- 
ogists and  mining  engineers  to  help  them,  and 
bought  the  best  equipment  they  could  get  for 
working.  They  determined  to  sink  deep  holes 
or  shafts  down  into  the  hillsides,  wherever  tests 
showed  a  good  gold  vein  existed,  and  from  each 


WONDERS   OF   GOLD  99 

shaft  run  off  horizontal  tunnels  or  levels,  so  that 
the  gold  in  the  white  quartz  rock  could  be  reached 
with  pick  and  shovel.  The  placer  miners  laughed 
at  them,  and  called  their  shafts  "coyote  holes"; 
but  in  time  the  placers  failed,  and  then  that  class 
of  men  changed  their  tune,  especially  when  they 
saw  the  great  quantities  of  gold  that  were  being 
taken  out  of  the  regular  mines.  Today  prac- 
tically all  gold  comes  from  the  white  quartz  veins 
of  this  sort  of  mine,  and  is  garnered  a  good  deal 
the  same  way  as  coal  and  copper. 

A  vein  of  gold  is  the  most  uncertain  thing  in 
the  world.  You  may  find  it  quite  thick  where 
you  first  strike  it,  then  as  you  begin  to  go  down 
into  it,  it  may  run  thinner  and  thinner  until  it  is 
a  mere  thread,  and  finally  plays  out  entirely.  On 
the  other  hand  it  may  be  very  thin  where  first  un- 
covered, and  then  surprise  you  by  growing  wider 
and  richer  as  you  follow  it  down.  Often  in  a 
comparatively  narrow  streak,  great  bulges  or 
swellings — called  "lodes" — will  occur  here  and 
there,  like  balls  on  a  spindling  chair  leg.  Such 
lodes  are  pockets  of  the  finest  treasure,  and  every 
miner  dreams  of  the  moment  he  may  run  into 
one  as  he  laboriously  picks  away. 

As  a  rule  all  gold  mines  produce  paying 
amounts  of  silver  also.  The  silver  is  found  in 
the  quartz  occasionally,  and  of  course  is  always 
saved. 


100     SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

When  the  broken  rock  of  the  gold  mine  is 
raised  to  the  mouth  of  the  shaft,  it  is  sent  in  cars 
to  a  stamping  mill.  Here  the  ore  is  fed  into  a 
great  steel  box  called  a  "mortar."  Immense 
hammers,  often  weighing  a  thousand  pounds 
each,  drop  down  upon  the  ore,  one  after  another, 
until  it  is  fine  enough  to  go  through  a  wire  screen 
in  the  front  of  the  mortar.  You  may  well  im- 
agine that  when  several  hundred  of  these  ham- 
mers— as  happens  in  large  mills — are  pounding 
away  with  all  their  might,  a  stamping  mill  is  a 
pretty  noisy  place. 

The  ore,  crushed  to  a  fine  powder,  now  runs 
over  sloping  tables  covered  with  copper.  Stick- 
ing to  the  top  of  the  table  is  a  film  of  quicksilver. 
This  holds  fast  all  the  gold  grains,  and  unites 
them  in  a  mass,  which  is  scraped  off  from  time  to 
time.  Later  the  golden  plaster  is  subjected  to 
enough  heat  to  drive  the  quicksilver  from  it. 

Another  method  of  separating  the  rock  from 
the  pure  gold  is  by  the  cyanide  process.  Cyanide 
is  mixed  with  water  to  form  a  strong  solution, 
and  into  this  the  crushed  gold  ore  is  thrown.  The 
cyanide  element  in  the  water  causes  the  gold  to 
dissolve  and  the  false  rock  to  sink  to  the  bottom. 
The  water  with  the  liquid  gold  is  then  run  into 
boxes  filled  with  zinc  shavings.  The  gold  par- 
ticles cling  to  the  shavings  like  a  burr  to  a  dog's 
tail,  giving  them  a  sort  of  gold  plate.  The  shav- 


WONDERS    OF   GOLD  101 

ings  are  finally  placed  in  a  furnace,  which  causes 
the  zinc  to  melt  first  and  run  off,  leaving  the  gold 
free. 

When  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia reached  Australia,  it  was  not  believed  at 
first,  but  when  a  vessel  arrived  at  Sydney  from 
those  gold  fields,  with  1,200  ounces  of  gold  on 
board,  the  whole  island  went  wild.  In  July, 
1849,  a  British  barque  sailed  from  Australia  with 
168  passengers,  of  whom  was  one  E.  H.  Har- 
graves,  a  keen  observer  of  rocks  and  soils.  As 
soon  as  this  ship  arrived  at  San  Francisco,  all 
hands  except  the  crew  made  for  the  gold  fields. 
Mr.  Hargraves  had  not  been  working  long  be- 
fore he  noticed  that  the  geological  structure  was 
very  much  like  that  of  New  South  Wales,  where 
he  had  passed  more  than  eighteen  years.  He  told 
his  companions  he  believed  there  might  be  gold 
in  Australia,  too.  He  was  laughed  at,  but  he 
did  not  give  up  his  idea. 

In  January,  1851,  he  landed  back  in  Sydney, 
bent  upon  testing  out  his  faith.  A  month  later 
he  set  out  on  horseback  for  the  point  where  he 
intended  to  make  his  first  explorations.  Finally 
he  stopped  at  a  wayside  hotel  which  was  operated 
by  a  Mrs.  Lister.  She  was  a  refined,  bright 
woman,  driven  into  the  occupation  by  misfor- 
tune. Mr.,  Hargraves  asked  her  if  she  knew 
where  he  could  get  a  guide,  and  told  her  of  his 


102      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

enterprise.  She  was  quite  enthusiastic  with  the 
plan,  and  promised  to  send  her  young  son  with 
him  as  guide,  saying  the  latter  knew  the  country 
thereabouts  like  a  book. 

Fifteen  miles  from  Guyong,  Mr.  Hargraves 
washed  his  first  pan  of  dirt.  Sure  enough,  he 
found  gold — more  than  he  had  in  California !  He 
was  greatly  excited.  He  tried  a  second  pan. 
More  gold  yet !  His  excitement  grew.  A  third 
pan — what  would  that  bring?  The  'third  pan 
was  washed.  In  the  bottom  were  many  glitter- 
ing particles  of  yellow.  The  gentleman  turned 
to  his  young  companion,  and  cried:  "Lad,  this 
is  a  remarkable  day  in  the  history  of  New  South 
Wales.  I  shall  be  a  baronet,  you  shall  be 
knighted,  and  my  old  horse  there  shall  be  stuffed, 
put  in  a  glass  case  and  sent  to  the  British 
Museum!" 

It  turned  out  in  part  that  way.  While  the 
horse  was  never  stuffed,  nor  the  boy  guide 
knighted,  Mr.  Hargraves  himself  was  knighted, 
and  given  a  pension  for  life. 

With  his  discovery  the  California  gold  fever 
waned  and  transferred  its  great  heat  into  Aus- 
tralia, where  in  a  short  time  every  miner  with  suf- 
ficient money  to  pay  his  passage  was  headed. 
There  were  not  nearly  enough  ships  to  carry 
them.  And  they  came  from  all  countries.  One  year 
later,  105,000  miners  were  encamped  at  three 


WONDERS    OF    GOLD  108 

gold  centers:  Ballarat,  Bendigo,  and  Castle- 
maine.  In  five  short  years  Melbourne  rose  from 
a  town  to  be  the  foremost  city  in  the  Southern 
Hemisphere.  Reports  of  panning  $100  to  $200 
per  day,  and  of  finding  nuggets  worth  thousands 
of  dollars,  upset  even  the  most  sober-minded. 
Farms,  shops,  ships,  were  deserted.  It  was 
shearing  time,  but  there  were  no  shearers;  it 
looked  as  if  when  harvest  time  came  there  would 
be  no  one  to  gather  in  the  crops. 

In  Queensland,  in  1886,  the  famous  Mount 
Morgan  mine  was  opened.  This  wonderful  mine 
proved  to  be  literally  a  mountain  sandwiched 
with  gold.  At  once  it  began  paying  dividends 
of  $2,000,000  a  year,  and  to-day  it  is  still  produc- 
ing that  much  in  gold,  but  added  to  this  immense 
profit  is  another  one  now  derived  from  great  de- 
posits of  copper  which  have  been  unearthed  by 
the  company  in  the  same  mine. 

But  in  all  the  history  of  gold  excitements,  the 
Klondike  craze,  awakened  in  the  year  1896  in 
Alaska,  is  probably  without  a  peer.  For  years 
the  great  movement  kept  up,  and  Alaska  was 
opened  to  the  outside  world.  Like  most  great 
booms,  however,  it  was  short-lived.  Now  the  gold 
mined  in  the  Klondike  region  is  a  negligible 
quantity. 

In  Alaska  the  greatest  difficulty  in  min- 
ing is  the  cold.  Not  only  do  the  miners  have 


104      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

to  be  bundled  in  heavy  furs,  but  the  ground  is 
frozen  so  hard  the  year  around  that  they  cannot 
scoop  up  gravel,  or  make  a  hole  down  into  it,  until 
it  is  first  thawed  out  by  building  fires  upon  it  or 
by  using  pipes  filled  with  scalding  steam.  The 
steam  is  projected  through  a  sharp  nozzle  which 
is  driven  gradually  down  into  the  softening 
ground. 

The  hills  and  mountains  of  Alaska  contain  un- 
told and  undreamed  of  wealth.  But  for  the  ex- 
treme weather  conditions,  it  is  quite  probable  that 
we  should  have  long  ago  opened  up  these  vast 
treasure  chests  of  valuable  ores  and  exposed  them 
to  the  wonder  of  other  nations.  One  of  these 
days  either  science  or  the  mere  physical  bravado 
of  Americans  will  do  the  trick.  It  is  bound  to  be 
performed. 

When  several  grains  of  gold  gather  together  in 
a  mass  they  form  what  miners  call  a  "nugget." 
Nuggets  are  the  great  prizes  for  which  the  aver- 
age miner  works  and  looks  forward  to  finding. 
The  largest  one  known  was  found  in  Australia, 
at  Ballarat,  in  1858.  It  weighed  2,159  ounces, 
and  was  sold  for  $42,000.  A  boy  could  not  carry 
such  a  lump  of  gold  without  a  cart  or  wheelbar- 
row. When  found  this  nugget  was  190  feet  deep, 
in  the  white  quartz  of  the  earth,  was  irregular  in 
shape,  and  much  honeycombed  by  the  action  of 
water. 


WONDERS    OF    GOLD  105 

Although  America  has  produced  no  record- 
breaking  nuggets,  she  has,  nevertheless,  given  up 
some  that  were  very  close  rivals  of  those  found  in 
Australia.  A  prospector  named  Martin  found 
one  in  Arizona  weighing  151  pounds.  The  dis- 
covery came  about  in  a  queer  way.  Martin  and 
a  comrade  were  encamped  in  a  canyon,  when  a 
cloudburst  caused  the  stream  to  rise  so  rapidly 
that  they  were  caught.  The  comrade  was 
drowned,  but  Martin  escaped,  though  severely 
injured.  After  the  torrent  had  subsided  he  re- 
turned to  bury  his  friend,  whose  body  he  found 
lodged  under  the  roots  of  a  tree.  In  dislodging 
the  body  he  saw  beside  it  the  huge  nugget.  It 
surely  seemed  that  Providence  had  rewarded  him 
for  his  faithfulness  to  this  friend. 

Twenty-eight  States  and  dependencies  of  this 
country  produce  an  output  of  gold.  In  1918  this 
totaled  3,320,748  fine  ounces,  with  a  value  of 
$68,646,700. 

The  Rand  mines  of  South  Africa,  owned  and 
controlled  by  the  British  government,  have 
proved  the  greatest  gold  "find"  of  history.  In 
1918  they  produced  over  half  of  the  gold  mined 
in  the  world.  The  mines  are  being  worked  con- 
servatively, with  no  attempt  to  get  as  much  as 
possible  in  the  shortest  time  and  thus  flood  the 
world's  gold  market. 


VII 


IN  Nevada  there  is  a  famous  silver  mine  called 
the  "Comstock."  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
Mr.  Comstock,  for  whom  the  mine  was 
named,  was  not  the  discoverer.  Nor  was  this 
world-renowned  silver  mine  a  silver  mine  at  all  in 
the  beginning  of  its  fame,  but  a  gold  mine  of 
great  promise  and  large  output. 

Ten  years  after  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia, the  placers  in  that  country  began  to 
become  exhausted,  and  miners  began  to  look  else- 
where for  the  precious  yellow  metal.  Among 
these  roamers  were  two  Irishmen,  Peter  O'Riley 
and  Pat  McLaughlin.  The  restless  pair  finally 
drifted  into  what  is  now  the  State  of  Nevada. 
Here  one  day  a  hunter  told  them  that  he  had  seen 
some  gold  taken  out  at  the  foot  of  Mount  David- 
son, and  they  made  haste  to  that  locality.  But 
while  they  found  gold,  there  was  a  discouraging 
scarcity  of  it  for  some  time.  Finally  they  decided 
to  sink  a  hole  for  water.  When  four  feet  down 
their  picks  struck  a  strange,  black-looking  dirt, 
a  sort  of  decomposed  ore. 

At  first  the  peculiar  earth  was  given  no  more 
106 


THE    STORY   OF   SILVER       107 

than  a  curious  inspection  by  both  miners,  but 
after  a  while  McLaughlin  determined  to  test  it 
in  a  crude  fashion.  Therefore  he  put  some  of  the 
dirt  in  his  rocker  and  washed  it  out.  The  result 
was  astounding.  The  bottom  of  the  rocker  was 
literally  covered  with  pure  gold.  In  a  few  min- 
utes the  two  Irishmen  were  working  feverishly  in 
the  black  dirt,  as  if  they  had  gone  daft,  and  were 
taking  out  gold  at  the  rate  of  $500  a  day. 

About  this  time  a  miner  named  Comstock 
came  upon  the  scene,  and  claimed  the  ground  as 
his  by  right  of  previous  discovery.  There  was 
really  some  foundation  for  his  claim,  as  he  had 
actually  visited  the  locality  before  the  Irishmen, 
and  had  staked  out  a  claim.  When  O'Riley  and 
McLaughlin  became  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
Comstock's  story,  they  offered  to  take  him  in  as 
a  partner,  but  would  concede  no  more.  To  this 
Comstock  agreed,  when  he  learned  that  the  others 
were  willing  that  the  property  should  be  named 
after  him. 

As  the  gold  lode  was  sunk  deeper  and  deeper 
it  began  to  thin  out,  so  that  it  no  longer  yielded 
one-third  yellow  metal,  and  its  fame  began  to 
tarnish.  But  it  was  only  a  momentary  setback. 
With  the  thinning  of  the  gold-bearing  strata,  a 
rich  silver  vein  was  struck,  which  soon  developed 
into  many  other  equally  rich  veins  of  almost  pure 
horn  silver.  In  a  short  time  the  Comstock  mine 


108      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

was  more  famous  than  ever,  but  now  as  a  silver 
mine  instead  of  a  gold  mine. 

Only  one  mine  on  earth  ever  surpassed  the 
Comstock  in  its  output  of  silver.  This  was  the 
lode  known  as  the  "Veta  Grand,"  near  the  city  of 
Zacatecas,  in  Mexico.  The  Veta  Grand  mine 
is  also  one  of  the  oldest  in  North  America,  having 
been  in  operation  before  the  days  of  Cortez.  This 
mine  has  turned  out  about  a  billion  dollars'  worth 
of  metal,  while  the  Comstock  has  equalled  half 
that  amount,  with  $100,000,000  in  gold  added. 

The  processes  by  which  nature  forms  deposits 
of  silver  ought  to  be  almost  as  interesting  to  the 
ordinary  reader  as  to  the  prospector  himself. 
The  earth's  crust,  of  course,  is  lavishly  veined 
with  watercourses.  This  water  runs,  trickles,  and 
seeps,  everywhere  through  the  rocks  beneath  our 
feet.  As  it  goes  it  rubs  off  or  wears  away  bil- 
lions of  tiny  particles  of  earth  and  rock  along  its 
path,  thus  forming  certain  chemical  solutions 
which  have  in  them  a  portion  of  the  precious 
metal  itself,  grains  of  which  have  been  gathered 
here  and  there  after  the  terrific  heat  and  gases 
below  have  projected  them  upward  through  fis- 
sures and  have  crystallized  them  at  the  surface. 

These  countless  underground  streams,  flowing 
hither  and  thither,  through  this  crevice  and 
pocket,  and  into  that  fissure  and  seam,  always 
are  leaving  behind  them  some  of  their  sediment. 


THE    STORY    OF   SILVER       109 

Slowly  the  pockets  fill  up  with  the  silver  particles, 
which  become  a  solid  mass  mixed  with  other  min- 
eral matter,  or  as  miners  call  it,  a  "lode."  To 
accomplish  this  it  has  taken  centuries.  Thus  cran- 
nies in  the  rock  in  every  direction,  if  at  all  reach- 
able by  water,  may  in  time  become  filled  with 
the  precious  metal,  as  if  a  myriad  of  invisible 
hands  were  fetching  the  treasure  from  all  sides 
and  hiding  away  a  bonanza  to  enrich  some  future 
lucky  prospector. 

In  the  Comstock  mine  great  and  unusual 
dangers  were  met  in  getting  out  the  ore.  The 
vein  of  quartz  which  bore  it  was  fifty  or  sixty 
feet  wide.  Some  of  this  was  very  soft,  some  very 
hard.  Pillars  held  up  the  tunnel  roof  all  right  in 
the  hard  sections,  but  the  soft  rock  persisted  in 
continually  falling  in  until  the  walls  were  literally 
covered  with  heavy  posts  standing  side  by  side 
on  end,  across  which  was  a  close  lathing  of  similar 
timbers  to  support  the  fickle  roof,  all  bolted  se- 
curely together.  In  other  places  great  hollow 
pillars  were  formed  by  laying  squared  timbers  in 
a  square  formation,  one  upon  the  other,  rail-fence 
fashion. 

Water  also  bothered  the  miners  tremendously 
for  a  time.  The  surrounding  earth  seemed  full 
of  small  streams.  Seldom  was  a  new  pocket  cut 
into,  or  a  tunnel  lengthened,  than  water  gushed 
out  with  more  or  less  force.  Some  of  these  out- 


110      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

lets  could  be  plugged  up  again,  but  others  could 
not,  and  the  latter  made  the  diggings  very  muddy 
and  wet  in  spite  of  the  pumps  which  were  con- 
stantly sucking  out  the  inflowing  water  through 
long  pipes.  Then  there  were  the  "water  pockets" 
which  a  pick  sometimes  encountered.  These 
large  reservoirs  of  water  in  the  walls  would  rush 
out  with  a  roar,  and  for  the  time  being  would 
flood  that  portion  of  the  mine  and  drown  the 
unlucky  miner  who  was  slow  in  running  away. 
These  water  pockets  often  contained  strong  min- 
erals, such  as  sulphur,  which  hurt  the  miners' 
eyes  and  lungs  when  the  waters  were  first  freed, 
and  many  a  poor  chap  had  to  be  carried  out  of 
the  mine  by  his  comrades  for  medical  attention. 

In  addition,  much  of  this  inflowing  water  was 
very  hot,  so  hot  as  to  scald  the  skin  when  it 
struck,  especially  in  the  deeper  workings  of  the 
mine.  Miners  here  worked  stripped  to  the  skin, 
and  though  ice  was  sent  down  to  them,  they  could 
stand  it  for  only  short  periods,  and  other  shifts 
took  their  places. 

Finally  a  mining  engineer  named  Sutro 
planned  to  remedy  the  water  nuisance  by  driving 
a  big  four-mile-long  tunnel  through  the  heart  of 
the  mountain,  letting  out  the  hot  water  and  the 
foul  air.  The  mine  owners  quickly  raised  the 
money  for  this  huge  undertaking,  and  the  tunnel 
was  put  through  as  designed.  It  was  a  fine  sue- 


THE    STORY   OF   SILVER       111 

cess.  Out  went  the  hot  water  as  fast  as  it  came 
in;  and  in  came  bushels  and  bushels  of  clean, 
fresii  air.  From  the  very  beginning  the  Corn- 
stock  mine  was  so  ready  to  originate  and  follow 
improved  mining  methods  that  it  was  called  the 
mining  school  of  the  world.  To-day,  however,  it 
is  a  poor  producer,  and  seems  practically  played 
out. 

Silver  is  one  of  the  oldest  known  metals. 
Along  with  gold  it  was  familiar  to  the  ancients, 
and  much  esteemed  by  them  not  only  as  a 
medium  of  exchange  but  as  a  decorative  sub- 
stance. The  Hebrews  called  it  Keseph,  mean- 
ing "to  be  pale."  The  Greeks  knew  it  as  argyroa, 
signifying  "shining." 

The  ceiling  of  the  pavilion  of  the  Peacock 
Hall  in  Delhi  was  originally  covered  with  silver 
filigree  work,  but  in  1799  the  Mahrattas,  after 
the  capture  of  the  city,  took  the  silver  down  and 
melted  it.  The  value  of  this  mass  was  then 
estimated  at  one  million  dollars.  The  silver  of 
course  came  from  the  early  mines  of  India. 

From  time  immemorial  the  mines  of  Peru  have 
been  fabulously  rich  in  silver  products.  Silver 
was  really  the  cause  of  the  barbarous  acts  of  the 
Spaniards  in  their  conquest  of  that  country,  the 
reason  for  their  murdering  the  people  and  plun- 
dering the  tombs  of  the  Inca  kings,  the  royal 
repositories  and  ancient  temples,  all  gorgeously 


112      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

ornamented  and  stored  with  silver.  From  the 
Temple  of  Cusco  the  despoilers  are  said  to  have 
secured  more  than  eleven  million  dollars'  worth 
of  the  precious  metal. 

But  in  spite  of  the  comparatively  large  silver 
production  of  Peru,  our  own  United  States 
exceeded  it  by  more  than  six  times  during  the 
last  few  years,  leading  all  other  countries.  Mexico 
was  a  close  second,  with  Canada,  Turkey,  and 
Peru  in  order.  In  1918  the  United  States  pro- 
duced 67,810,100  fine  ounces,  and  Mexico  fol- 
lowed closely  with  an  output  of  62,517,000 
ounces.  While  decreasing  the  output  of  gold,  the 
World  War  demands  greatly  increased  the  pro- 
duction of  silver  over  previous  years,  as  silver 
sold  at  a  higher  price  and  consequently  became 
more  profitable  to  mine,  and  there  was  an 
enormous  need  of  it  for  paying  off  soldiers  and 
meeting  other  national  expenses.  Nearly  all 
countries  find  more  or  less  silver  within  their 
domain,  and  about  half  the  States  of  our  nation 
have  mines  in  operation.  Utah  and  Montana  are 
the  leading  producers. 

Silver  in  this  country  is  almost  entirely  mined 
as  a  by-product  of  copper,  lead,  or  gold  itself. 
Were  it  not  for  the  other  minerals  found  with 
silver  it  would  not  pay  to  mine  it,  but  since  there 
is  always  more  or  less  silver  in  copper  and  lead 
ores  it  is  easily  obtainable.  Though  it  is  rarely 


THE    STORY    OF   SILVER       113 

found  in  pure  chunks,  nuggets  have  been  dis- 
covered which  weighed  several  hundred  pounds. 
Silver  is  also  found  in  sea  water,  and  small  quan- 
tities in  the  form  of  chloride  have  been  detected  in 
volcanic  dust. 

As  a  product  of  the  sea,  we  might  say  that  for 
several  years  mining  under  the  most  unfavorable 
conditions  was  carried  on  at  Silver  Islet,  a 
storm-beaten  ledge  situated  about  one  mile  from 
the  mainland  of  Lake  Superior,  not  far  from 
Thunder  Cape  on  the  Canadian  side.  The  ore 
when  first  discovered  appeared  as  shining  streaks 
of  white,  from  three  to  ten  feet  under  water,  and 
proved  to  be  worth  an  average  of  $1,500  a  ton. 
It  was  of  the  kind  known  as  "packing  ore,"  and 
was  sufficiently  rich  to  be  packed  in  barrels  and 
smelted  (purified)  without  further  treatment. 
The  workings,  which  extended  1,000  feet  under 
water,  were  protected  at  great  expense  and  risk 
of  life  by  a  system  of  breakwaters,  cribs,  and 
coffer-dams,  ballasted  with  rock  and  clay.  On 
many  occasions  the  furious  storms  of  Lake  Su- 
perior have  utterly  wrecked  the  works,  but  they 
have  been  patiently  rebuilt  each  time. 

Silver  in  its  native  state  is  a  white,  lustrous 
metal  which  melts  at  a  temperature  of  961  de- 
grees Fahrenheit.  Of  all  metals  it  is  the  best 
conductor  of  electricity.  It  is  ductile,  and  capa- 
ble of  taking  a  high  polish.  It  is  also  extremely 


malleable,  being  so  tough  that  it  can  be  drawn 
out  into  the  very  finest  of  wire  without  breaking. 

If  you  should  take  a  thin  film  of  silver  and 
hold  it  up  to  the  light  you  would  find  that  the 
light  would  come  through  it,  but  would  be  blue 
instead  of  white.  If  you  should  melt  a  lump  of 
silver  it  would  immediately  absorb  twenty-two 
times  its  volume  in  oxygen  from  the  air,  then 
discharge  this  again  as  fast  as  it  grew  cold  and 
solid  again.  If  you  should  drop  this  melted  mass 
into  water,  cooling  it  suddenly,  the  oxygen  would 
become  imprisoned  before  it  could  escape  freely. 
The  oxygen  gas  would  then  struggle  until  it  burst 
through  the  hardening  crust,  forcing  up  a  part  of 
the  fused  silver  into  tiny  little  bubbles  all  over 
the  surface — a  phenomenon  known  as  "spitting." 

Silver  forms  ideal  alloys  with  many  metals. 
That  consisting  of  nine  parts  of  silver  to  one  part 
of  copper  is  the  standard  alloy  used  by  the  United 
States  for  making  its  silver  coins,  its  dollars,  half- 
dollars,  quarter-dollars,  and  dimes.  A  similar 
alloy  is  also  used  by  our  government  for  stamp- 
ing out  silver  medals  of  honor,  such  as  given  to 
its  heroes  in  time  of  peace  and  war.  When  Uncle 
Sam  wants  silver  for  any  reason,  he  sends  out 
circulars  describing  the  quantity  and  quality  to 
various  silver  mine  owners  or  brokers,  asking  for 
bids.  The  one  whose  price  is  lowest  gets  the 
order.  When  the  silver  is  received  it  is  carefully 


tested,  or  assayed,  by  the  government  experts,  to 
see  that  it  is  up  to  the  requirements.  It  is  then 
refined,  mixed  with  the  right  amount  of  copper 
to  harden  it,  melted,  and  poured  in  molds, 
coming  out  as  bars  of  shining  white  metal. 

The  bars  are  run  through  steel  rollers  which 
flatten  them  till  they  are  converted  into  long 
ribbons  of  silver  just  the  right  thickness  for  the 
coin  to  be  made.  This  wide  ribbon  is  sawed  into 
strips  of  the  width  of  the  coin,  following  which 
the  strips  go  under  a  punch  which  cuts  them  into 
many  plain  discs.  A  stamping  machine,  with 
engraved  steel  die  below  and  above,  imprints  the 
design  on  both  sides  of  the  coins  at  one  operation, 
as  they  fall  under  it  automatically.  Still  another 
machine  cuts  a  little  bevel  off  the  sharp  edges,  and 
another  one  cuts  in  the  little  creases  (called 
"milling")  around  the  outside.  A  big  revolving 
"drum,"  containing  sawdust,  receives  the  coins, 
and  tumbles  them  over  and  over  and  upon  each 
other  for  a  long  time.  Finally  they  come  out 
smooth  and  beautifully  white  and  lustrous,  and 
are  carefully  counted  by  girls,  registered,  put 
into  packages,  and  stored  in  strong  vaults  till  the 
banks  of  the  country  call  for  them. 

Great  quantities  of  silver  are  used  in  the  arts 
and  industries  of  the  world.  For  making  jewelry 
and  silverware  it  is  perhaps  the  most  widely  em- 
ployed. Its  greatest  fault  in  either  of  these  uses 


116      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

is  its  disposition  to  tarnish.  No  matter  how  pure 
it  may  be,  silver  likes  to  unite  with  sulphur,  and 
it  will  always  do  so  if  there  is  a  bit  of  it  around. 
The  sulphur — some  of  which  is  contained  in  the 
yolk  of  so  simple  a  thing  as  a  hen's  egg — has  a 
tendency  to  turn  the  silver  a  bluish,  smutty 
black,  and  it  is  so  prevalent  in  town  and  city  life, 
in  the  form  of  sulphureted  hydrogen  in  the  air, 
that  practically  every  silver  owner  meets  more  or 
less  of  it,  and  has  to  scrub  away  with  some  kind 
of  fine  grit  on  a  cloth  in  order  to  keep  the  precious 
metal  nice  and  bright. 

On  the  back  of  many  silver  articles,  especially 
tableware,  you  will  see  the  words,  "Triple  plate," 
or  "Quadruple  plate."  This  means  that  the 
article  is  not  solid  silver,  but  contains  a  core  of 
some  other  metal  upon  which  three  or  four  films 
(or  "plates")  of  pure  silver  have  been  placed. 
This  is  the  best  substitute  for  solid  silver;  it  looks 
just  as  well,  in  fact  just  the  same,  and  if  the 
plating  is  heavy  it  may  never  wear  through  dur- 
ing a  person's  lifetime.  The  plating  is  done  by 
an  electrical  process.  Two  metal  rods  are  laid 
across  the  open  top  of  a  jar  containing  a  solution 
of  silver  cyanide,  potassium  cyanide,  and  water. 
From  one  end  of  a  rod  dangles  the  article  to  be 
plated,  hanging  in  the  bath.  From  the  other  end 
hangs  a  piece  of  silver  plate.  The  rods  are  con- 
nected with  opposite  poles  of  a  battery.  The 


THE    STORY   OF   SILVER       117 

electrical  current  passes  through  them,  releases 
the  silver  from  the  silver  cyanide,  and  this  is 
deposited  on  the  spoon,  or  whatever  the  subject 
may  be.  The  cyanide  that  has  lost  its  silver  then 
begins  to  draw  from  the  silver  plate,  to  replace 
it.  This  giving  and  taking  process  is  continued 
until  the  operator  considers  the  plate  on  the 
spoon  heavy  enough.  He  arrives  at  this  decision 
not  by  guesswork  entirely,  because  he  took  the 
weight  of  the  core  spoon  before  he  placed  it  in 
the  jar  or  bath,  and  having  determined  the  weight 
of  silver  he  wished  deposited  upon  it,  he  simply 
adds  the  two  weights,  and  the  sum  is  what  the 
finished  spoon  must  weigh.  So  from  time  to  time 
he  tosses  it  on  a  scale  till  the  desired  balance  has 
been  attained. 

Silver  is  used  extensively  in  photography  for 
making  dry-plates,  films,  and  sensitized  paper. 
Compounded  it  is  used  to  give  a  yellow  color  to 
stained  glass,  to  form  silver  nitrate  and  be  cast 
into  sticks  to  be  used  as  a  caustic  in  medicine,  to 
act  as  the  basis  of  many  indelible  inks,  to  give 
foundation  to  some  black  hair  dyes.  Silver  sul- 
phide, formed  by  tarnish,  is  the  groundwork  of 
the  so-called  "oxidized"  finish  so  popular  upon 
many  articles  of  art.  This  tarnish  may  be 
removed  by  a  weak  solution  of  potassium  cyanide, 
which,  however,  is  a  deadly  poison  and  must  be 
handled  with  extreme  caution. 


VIII 
DIAMOND,   THE    KING   OF   GEMS 

T"1ROM  the  remotest  ages  there  has  been  a 
rl  romance  and  fascination  surrounding  the 
diamond  which  is  far  greater  than  that 
belonging  to  any  other  form  of  personal  adorn- 
ment or  belonging.  At  times  other  precious 
stones  have  been  valued  more  highly,  but  they 
have  never  been  regarded  with  the  same  strong 
feeling  which  has  attached  to  the  "king  of  gems." 
'Because  of  their  rarity,  diamonds  were  the  exclu- 
sive property  of  the  proudest  and  most  puissant 
of  princes,  and  the  ornament  of  the  most  sacred 
shrines.  Their  possession  inspired  respect  of  the 
multitudes,  and  did  much  to  enhance  the  power  of 
their  owners. 

The  skin-clad  barbarian,  idly  searching 
through  gravel  banks  along  streams  for  sharp 
stones  from  which  to  make  his  arrow  and  spear 
points,  was  irresistibly  attracted  by  the  glit- 
tering pebbles  which  cast  back  the  sun's  rays  in 
scintillating  flashes,  as  his  brown  toes  turned 
them  rollingly  over.  Such  a  prize  he  would  keep, 
unless  some  stronger  warrior  took  it  from  him 
by  force,  or  at  least  until  the  tribal  chief  seized  it 

118 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS     119 

as  his  right.  Other  pebbles  might  have  brighter 
color,  might  possess  more  interesting  configura- 
tions; but  none  had  that  bewitching,  mysterious 
play  of  shimmering,  beautiful  light  effects  given 
off  by  the  various  sides  and  sharp  edges  of  the 
wonderful  diamond  pebbles. 

As  men  became  more  civilized  their  admira- 
tion for  the  diamond  grew  rather  than 
diminished.  Its  brilliant  radiance  held  them 
spellbound,  and  created  in  every  beholder, 
humble  or  rich,  a  keen  desire  for  possession. 
There  seemed  always  a  strange  sort  of  per- 
sonality about  it,  as  of  a  living  thing  rather  than 
an  inanimate  object.  Its  moods  seemed  ever  to 
change,  like  those  of  a  human  being's  eyes ;  it  sent 
out  to  its  beholder  as  many  different  messages, 
inspired  as  many  different  fanciful  thoughts  in 
him,  as  he  viewed  it  from  this  angle  and  that,  as 
a  living  soul.  This  very  weird  quality  wove 
around  it  a  strange,  remarkable  shroud  of  mys- 
tery, awoke  superstitions  in  man's  breast  that  he 
never  dreamed  had  lain  there,  and  gave  rise  to 
stories  and  traditions  of  the  most  entrancing  and 
fanciful  kind.  The  most  remarkable  story  of  all 
—that  diamonds  had  been  found  in  meteorites,  or 
"falling  stars" — was  a  true  one.  Present-day 
scientists  say  that  a  meteor  is  a  ball  of  liquid  car- 
bon and  iron,  which  striking  the  cool  earth  would 
possibly  crystallize  into  diamonds. 


120      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Rulers  became  so  mad  to  possess  the  diamonds 
that  they  made  rigid  laws  that  finders  of  them 
should  not  keep  them,  but  must  turn  them  over 
to  the  throne.  To  keep  peace  with  pagan  gods, 
these  ugly  creatures  were  often  adorned  with  the 
finest  of  the  gems  thus  brought  in,  and  the  altars 
of  the  rulers  themselves  were  lavishly  set  with 
others.  The  smaller  stones  might  be  the  subject 
of  barter,  but  the  large  and  brilliant  gems  were 
for  the  monarch  and  his  heirs — to  use,  if  he  saw 
fit,  as  embellishments  to  religious  shrines. 

Out  of  the  Orient,  where  diamonds  were  first 
commonly  known,  came  wondrous  stories  of  the 
beauty  and  splendor  of  the  great  gems  owned  by 
potentates  of  those  Eastern  lands,  and  the 
Western  nations  listened  and  were  amazed. 
Thus  grew  up  a  sentiment  which  has  endured 
even  into  this  century,  when  discoveries  of 
diamonds  in  many  lands  have  made  the  King  of 
Gems  a  possible  possession  for  everyone  with  suf- 
ficient money  to  purchase  one.  The  diamond  is 
still  looked  upon  as  the  most  imposing  of  the 
many  articles  by  which  wealth  can  be  represented, 
and  the  owner  of  a  fine  brilliant  is  accorded 
something  of  the  honor,  even  in  democratic 
countries,  that  has  long  been  the  heritage  of 
monarchs  and  queens. 

The  diamond  is  a  thing  of  paradoxes. 
Although  known  from  the  most  ancient  times,  it 


• 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS      121 

is  the  newest  of  gems  in  its  present  form,  for  its 
full  beauty  was  never  brought  out  until  modern 
cutting  and  polishing  methods  were  applied,  the 
greatest  advance  in  these  finishing  arts  having 
been  made  right  here  in  our  own  country,  the 
result  of  special  machinery.  As  another  in- 
stance of  its  paradoxical  qualities,  although  the 
diamond  is  always  the  symbol  of  wealth  and 
opulence,  the  diamond  finders  themselves  have 
never  ceased  to  be,  as  a  rule,  the  very  poorest  of 
the  poor.  Again,  should  a  stone  have  the 
slightest  tinge  of  color — something  that  makes 
other  gems  worth  so  much — its  value  is  at  once 
lowered;  the  whiter  it  is  the  more  precious. 
Lastly,  though  the  old  world  has  known  the 
diamond  all  its  history,  it  remained  for  the  new 
world  to  create  a  market  for  the  glittering 
baubles.  To-day  most  of  the  diamonds  produced 
by  the  world  are  sold  in  the  two  Americas,  and 
the  great  majority  of  these  go  to  the  United 
States,  where  the  gems  are  more  commonly  worn 
than  anywhere  else  on  the  earth. 

You  have  no  doubt  heard  the  phrase,  "Dia- 
mond cut  diamond,"  when  reference  is  made  to 
two  antagonistic  forces  of  about  equal  strength. 
This  saying  grew  out  of  the  fact  that  a  diamond 
is  the  hardest  substance  known,  and  that  it  can 
only  be  cut  with  its  own  kind  or  its  own  kind  of 
grit.  Of  all  precious  minerals  it  is  the  only  one 


122      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

composed  of  a  single  chemical  element.  This 
element  in  the  diamond  is  crystallized  carbon. 
It  is  found  in  all  colors  of  the  rainbow,  and  more. 
Often  it  takes  on  a  sooty  blackness,  like  coal,  but 
these  colored  specimens  have  little  value.  It  is 
closely  related  to  both  coal  and  graphite,  but  of 
course  has  undergone  an  entirely  different  chem- 
ical fusion  in  the  furnace  of  the  earth  at  some 
time  in  the  dim,  dim  past. 

In  formation,  a  diamond  closely  resembles 
wood,  in  that  it  has  a  grain  and  splits  easily 
along  the  plane  of  such  grain.  Just  as  a  wood- 
worker carefully  determines  the  direction  of  the 
grain  in  his  lumber  before  beginning  to  cut  it,  so 
do  lapidarists  (gem  cutters)  note  the  diamond 
grain  before  attempting  to  work  it  up.  A  small 
groove  is  sunk  in  the  stone  parallel  with  the  grain, 
a  thin  steel  blade  is  inserted,  struck  a  quick,  sharp 
blow,  and  the  diamond  pops  apart.  In  this  way 
expert  lapidarists  used  to  separate  stones, 
remove  defective  parts  with  the  least  loss  of  ma- 
terial, and  get  them  in  proper  size  for  cutting 
and  polishing. 

But  within  the  last  few  years  a  better  method 
has  been  found.  Now  most  lapidarists  saw  the 
stones  apart,  and  this  scheme  is  particularly  ad- 
vantageous when  the  gems  have  to  be  cut  across 
the  grain.  The  sawing  is  done  by  a  thin 
revolving  disc,  much  like  a  common  circular  saw, 


123 

but  having  no  teeth.  The  disc  is  made  of  an 
amalgam  of  copper  and  bronze,  and  has  a  very 
thin  edge  which  readily  cuts  through  the  diamond 
when  diamond  dust  and  olive  oil  are  fed 
beneath  it  during  the  process. 

Diamond  cutting  requires  great  skill,  judg- 
ment, and  patience.  The  sides,  or  "facets,"  must 
all  be  of  perfectly  equal  size,  uniformly  situated 
about  the  stone,  and  they  must  be  perfectly  flat 
and  of  the  same  angle.  In  this  process  the  stone 
is  securely  fastened  in  a  mechanic's  "dop"  or 
holder,  which  is  pressed  against  a  steel  wheel 
covered  with  diamond-dust  paste.  The  wheel 
revolves  at  a  speed  of  2,500  revolutions  per 
minute.  The  first  facet  to  be  ground  is  the  large 
horizontal  one  at  the  top  center  of  the  stone, 
called  the  "table."  Next  the  eight  large  facets 
around  the  girdle  of  the  stone  are  ground,  each 
facet  requiring  the  removal  of  the  gem  from  the 
dop  and  its  replacement  with  cement  in  a  new 
position.  Then  the  eight  small  facets  around 
the  table  are  formed.  Finally  eight  intermediate 
ones  are  ground,  which  cut  the  large  girdle  facets 
into  sixteen  small  ones.  This  completes  the  top 
of  the  stone,  and  gives  it  thirty-two  facets  and 
one  table.  The  underside  is  cut  in  much  the  same 
manner,  producing  twenty-four  facets  and  one 
culet. 

As  each  surface  is  cut  it  is  polished  until  abso- 


124      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

lutely  flawless,  without  the  semblance  of  a  scratch 
under  even  the  strongest  magnifying  glass,  the 
finest  diamond  dust  and  olive  oil  being  used  in 
this  procedure.  As  the  cutting  and  polishing  is 
all  done  by  eye,  the  artisan  must  have  great  keen- 
ness and  accuracy  of  vision,  as  well  as  skill  of 
hand  and  knowledge  of  his  work.  The  perfec- 
tion and  wonderful  delicacy  of  diamond  cutting 
can  perhaps  be  better  understood  when  it  is  stated 
that  a  skilled  lapidarist  can  cut  diamonds  so  tiny 
that  250  of  them  will  weigh  but  one  carat,  each 
stone  being  a  complete,  full-cut  brilliant  I 

In  almost  every  country  of  the  world  diamonds 
have  been  found.  Yet  only  three  localities 
produce  enough  to  be  called  really  productive — 
South  Africa,  Brazil  and  India- — and  these 
supply  the  bulk  of  the  diamonds  which  are  sold 
in  the  open  markets,  the  Kimberley  fields  of 
South  Africa  standing  ahead  of  all  others  in 
quality  and  quantity  of  output. 

India  is  the  first  country  in  which  diamonds 
are  known  to  have  been  mined.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  long  before  that  many  diamonds  lying 
loose  were  picked  up  along  the  water-courses  of 
that  motherland  of  civilization.  But  the  men  of 
those  prehistoric  times  did  not  search  deeply  into 
natural  affairs;  they  regarded  the  diamonds  as 
the  tokens  of  the  Thunder-god,  left  where  his 
bolts  had  struck  deep  into  the  earth.  It  remained 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS      125 

for  the  lure  of  gold  to  entice  men  to  the  drifts 
where  a  rich  harvest  was  awaiting  them. 

It  has  been  observed  that  in  almost  every  land 
where  diamonds  are  found  in  dirt  washed  up  by 
rivers,  gold  is  also  found,  which  goes  to  show 
that  both  have  been  washed  down  into  the  valleys 
from  the  mountain-sides.  As  soon  as  the  ancient 
Aryans,  searching  for  gold,  began  to  wash  the 
gravelly  sands,  they  found  the  sharp,  white  crys- 
tals that  had  hitherto  only  been  discovered  by 
chance.  And  the  princes,  jealous  of  their  pres- 
tige, soon  sent  watchers  to  the  mines  to  claim  all 
the  larger  stones,  and  to  levy  tribute  upon  the 
yield  of  smaller  gems.  An  occasional  gem  of 
large  size  was  smuggled  away  by  the  finder,  to 
be  secretly  sold  to  other  princes  in  whose  terri- 
tory no  diamond  mines  were  to  be  found,  and 
these  nobles  began  to  blossom  out  also  in  the 
finest  of  gems.  In  the  constant  wars  that  waged 
among  the  leaders  of  the  country,  the  victor 
cherished  as  his  richest  spoil  the  treasured  dia- 
monds of  the  vanquished;  and  in  this  way  the 
gems  were  even  more  widely  distributed. 

Egypt  knew  the  diamond  as  a  graving  tool, 
and  possibly  also  as  a  gem,  while  the  roving 
Phoenecians  traded  extensively  in  the  stone,  like- 
wise in  the  white  sapphire  and  zircon,  which  are 
like  it  in  whiteness  but  neither  so  hard  nor  so 
brilliant. 


126      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

When  the  Greeks  spread  out  in  a  conquering 
flood  over  the  western  part  of  Asia,  they  took  as 
their  most  treasured  spoil  the  diamonds  of  con- 
quered kings,  and  the  writers  of  that  period, 
whose  books  have  come  down  to  us,  told  mar- 
vellous stories  of  the  jewels  of  the  East.  Rome 
followed  Greece  as  a  world  power,  and  developed 
commerce  so  that  all  sorts  of  precious  stones  were 
known  and  worn  by  the  sybaritic  patricians  of  the 
great  empire.  Rubies,  emeralds,  and  other 
precious  stones  glittered  in  the  scarlet  and  purple 
robes  of  the  rulers — but  outshining,  outdazzling 
them  all  were  the  diamonds  themselves. 

So  coveted  were  the  diamonds,  even  at  this 
early  period,  that  unscrupulous  persons  began  to 
try  to  counterfeit  them,  to  try  to  create  sub- 
stances which  would  look  like  diamonds  and  find 
a  sale  as  such.  These  imitations  were  made 
chiefly  of  a  sort  of  paste  by  the  Mediterranean 
traders,  but  were  never  very  successful,  as  a 
diamond  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  gems  to 
counterfeit,  owing  to  its  whiteness  and  great 
hardness.  Of  late  years  Americans  and  Euro- 
peans have  been  far  more  fortunate  in  creating 
artificial  diamonds;  indeed,  have  done  so  with 
such  consummate  skill  that  no  one  can  detect  the 
natural  from  the  man-made  stone.  These  fine 
imitations,  however,  are  not  sold  on  the  market, 
as  they  are  too  small  to  be  of  value.  They  are 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS     127 

made  by  dissolving  carbon  in  melted  iron  and 
cooling  it  suddenly,  which  crystallizes  the  carbon 
into  tiny  diamonds.  They  sell  at  a  very  low  price 
compared  to  genuine  diamonds,  which  at  this 
time  are  quoted  at  from  $90  to  $200  per  carat, 
depending  on  quality. 

As  the  thin  and  scattered  diamond-grounds  of 
India  began  to  give  forth  smaller  supplies  of 
diamonds,  a  new  impetus  was  given  the  trade  by 
the  discovery  of  these  gems  in  Brazil.  Gold 
miners  there  had  unearthed  stray  gems  as  early 
as  1670,  but  it  was  not  until  1725  that  their  real 
nature  was  known,  when  a  trader  purchased  some 
of  them  from  two  Portuguese  miners.  Immedi- 
ately there  was  a  rush  of  prospectors  and  miners 
to  the  district,  and  a  town,  since  known  as  Dia- 
mantina,  sprang  up.  Gold  was  forgotten ;  every 
man  hastened  to  wash  the  river  beds  in  quest  of 
the  glinting  white  gems.  Closely  following  the 
adventurers  came  the  law.  The  Portuguese 
crown  declared  its  sovereignty  over  all  diamond- 
bearing  beds,  and  no  one  was  allowed  to  mine 
without  paying  heavy  taxes ;  even  then  the  largest 
and  best  stones  were  confiscated  by  the  crown. 
This  brought  the  quest  in  disrepute,  and  soon  the 
fields  were  scarcely  worked  except  by  the 
throne's  own  slaves  and  hirelings. 

Native  Indians  and  escaped  slaves,  along  with 
lawless  white  men,  scattered  into  new  districts 


128      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

and  prospected.  In  many  instances  they  were 
lucky,  and  before  they  were  detected  and  again 
overridden  by  the  law,  succeeded  in  selling  many 
good  stones.  Whenever  one  of  these  lawless 
miners  was  caught,  he  was  made  a  slaveworker 
in  the  mines  of  the  Portuguese  government.  To 
get  these  slaves  to  work  harder,  the  one  who 
found  an  unusually  large  diamond  was  prom- 
ised his  freedom.  In  this  way  the  government 
obtained  better  service  than  could  be  gotten 
through  use  of  the  overseer's  lash,  and  secured 
many  fine  specimens  of  stones.  Good  to  relate, 
the  agreement  with  the  men  was  kept,  and  every 
fortunate  finder  was  sent  away  rejoicing  in  his 
freedom. 

Finally  Brazil  became  an  independent  nation, 
and  then  the  government  mining  was  largely 
abandoned,  and  everyone  was  given  a  chance  to 
find  and  record  a  mine  of  his  own,  and  to  work 
it  in  his  own  interests,  as  in  the  United  States 
mining  system.  But  men  found  that  so  much 
rock  and  earth  had  to  be  handled  in  order  to  find 
even  a  few  diamonds  that  the  game  was  more 
often  a  losing  one  than  a  winning  one. 

As  the  lust  for  gems  has  had  much  to  do  with 
the  wars  and  conquests  of  the  past,  so  the  dis- 
covery of  the  greatest  diamond  fields  of  all  time 
— those  of  South  Africa — has  wrought  a  new 
empire  there.  But  for  the  finding  of  diamonds 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS      129 

there,  we  have  strong  grounds  for  belief  that  the 
semi-desert  would  still  be  devoted  to  a  pastoral 
grazing  ground  of  the  Boers.  As  it  is  now,  cities 
have  sprung  up,  immense  fortunes  have  been 
made,  and  the  way  has  been  carved  through  war 
and  commerce  for  a  new  union  of  states. 

No  one  knows  just  when  the  first  diamonds 
were  discovered  in  South  Africa.  The  first  acci- 
dent that  led  to  the  world's  attention  being 
attracted  was  one  in  which  a  Boer  woman  living 
near  Hopetown,  on  the  Orange  River,  picked  up 
a  glittering  diamond  among  the  pebbles  where 
her  little  son  was  playing  along  the  shore.  She 
did  not  know  its  value,  but  was  attracted  by  its 
brilliance,  and  showed  it  to  a  neighbor.  This 
man — Van  Niekirk  by  name — recognized  the 
stone  as  a  diamond,  and  bought  it  for  a  small 
sum.  He  in  turn  sold  it  to  an  Irishman,  who 
showed  it  to  Dr.  Guibon  Atherstone,  a  noted 
mineralogist  at  Grahamtown.  The  scientist  at 
once  pronounced  it  a  very  fine  specimen  of  dia- 
mond, of  more  than  20-carat  weight.  He  induced 
the  owner  to  put  it  in  the  Paris  exhibition,  where 
it  attracted  widespread  comment.  Later,  Sir 
Philip  Wodehouse,  governor  of  Cape  Colony, 
bought  the  gem  for  $2,500,  and  continued  its 
public  display  to  attract  people  into  the  new 
country. 

In  1867  the  rush  of  miners  began,  and  soon 


they  were  busily  searching  along  every  water- 
course for  the  precious  stones.  The  Boers  them- 
selves did  not  join  in  the  quest,  and  went  on  about 
their  staid  grazing  duties  as  before,  calmly  smok- 
ing their  pipes  and  blinking  contentedly  at  the 
energetic  actions  of  the  newcomers.  As  a  sharper 
instance  of  this  calm  indifference  of  the  Dutch- 
men to  the  excitement  going  on  all  about  them,  it 
is  related  that  a  Boer  who  was  building  a  chimney 
plastered  it  with  pebbly  mud  from  a  swale 
near  by.  Later  when  his  attention  was  called  to 
the  fact  that  a  number  of  glittering  diamonds 
were  among  these  embedded  pebbles,  he  merely 
nodded  gravely,  and  said,  without  the  least  sign 
of  flurry,  "Yaw;  they  won't  hurt;  I  will  leave 
them!" 

At  first  the  miners  had  poor  success,  but  when, 
in  1869,  a  native  picked  up  a  stone  weighing 
eighty  carats,  which  has  since  been  named  "The 
Star  of  South  Africa,"  news  of  the  find  was 
spread  broadcast,  and  renewed  interest  taken. 
Where  previously  there  had  been  one  hundred 
miners  in  the  Vaal  River  field  in  May,  August 
found  more  than  two  thousand.  By  the  follow- 
ing April  there  were  five  thousand  prospectors, 
and  more  coming  in  every  day. 

It  was  a  hard  journey  from  the  coast,  either  by 
wagon  or  on  foot,  and  the  adventurers  found  the 
cost  of  living  a  burden  from  the  outset,  with 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS     131 

supplies  difficult  to  secure.  But  they  kept  arriv- 
ing. Voluntary  associations  were  formed  to  pre- 
serve the  law  and  to  impose  mining  licenses,  and 
rules  were  laid  down  for  the  marking  and  work- 
ing of  claims.  Each  claim  was  thirty  feet  square, 
and  anyone  was  free  to  take  possession  of  a  claim 
which  had  not  been  worked  for  three  days.  The 
Boers  sought  to  levy  taxes,  but  this  effort  was 
resisted,  and  the  territory  annexed  to  Cape 
Colony  to  circumvent  it.  Washing  methods  were 
rough,  and  many  small  stones  were  lost. 

Finally,  disappointed  in  the  Vaal  River  dig- 
gings, the  prospectors  spread  out  over  the  coun- 
try in  quest  of  more  productive  fields.  One  of 
these  chanced  upon  the  gem-plastered  chimney 
of  Farmer  Van  Wyk,  previously  mentioned. 
Struck  with  the  possibilities  of  the  locality,  he 
went  to  work  and  was  soon  taking  out  diamonds 
in  a  fashion  to  attract  many  others  to  claims  in 
the  same  locality.  More  and  more  miners 
swarmed  in.  Soon  the  famous  De  Beers  mines 
were  opened  up,  also  the  noted  Kimberley  mines. 
A  peculiar  snuff-colored  earth  was  found  here, 
and  all  through  this,  well  scattered,  were  the 
precious  stones,  ranging  in  size  from  pin  heads 
to  crystals  the  size  of  a  pea.  The  greatest 
treasure-house  of  the  world  had  been  found  at 
last,  although  few,  if  any,  of  the  miners  then 
suspected  it. 


132      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

A  typical  mining  town,  rough  and  full  of  bad 
men,  grew  up  among  the  mines.  Shafts  went 
deeper  and  deeper,  and  the  individual  miners 
found  that  the  work  was  getting  so  costly  that  it 
no  longer  paid  well.  Negro  laborers  became 
adept  thieves  and  robbed  their  employers,  only  to 
lose  their  ill-gotten  treasure  to  the  rogues  of  the 
town.  Crime  was  common.  The  strictest  laws 
could  not  entirely  keep  it  down.  No  man's  mind 
was  at  ease;  if  he  did  not  find  diamonds  he  was 
worried;  if  he  found  them  he  was  troubled  with 
the  greater  and  more  gnawing  fear  of  having 
them  stolen  from  him,  perhaps  losing  his  own 
life  in  the  operation  from  a  cowardly  knife 
thrust  from  behind. 

When  the  yellow  ground  was  exhausted,  and  a 
stratum  of  blue-clay  rock  was  met,  most  of  the 
miners  concluded  that  the  bonanza  times  were 
over,  and  sold  out.  The  era  of  consolidation  had 
begun.  Men  with  money  combined  their  capital, 
combined  their  claims,  combined  their  intellects, 
and  continued  the  mining  operations  on  the  huge 
and  efficient  scale  that  such  power  makes  pos- 
sible. Machines  were  brought  in  for  the  digging, 
expert  engineers  were  engaged  to  work  out  the 
mining  problems  that  arose,  miners  were  hired. 
Thus  the  De  Beers  and  the  Kimberley  mines 
became  the  greatest  producing  diamond  mines  in 
the  world,  and  are  such  today.  The  syndicate 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS      133 

which  controls  them  and  other  paying  mines  abso- 
lutely fixes  the  price  of  diamonds  for  the  universe 
from  its  London  office.  When  we  buy  a  diamond 
ring  or  stickpin,  or  anything  else  containing  a 
diamond,  we  pay  the  price  set  down  by  this 
monopolistic  ring  of  men  for  that  class  of 
diamond. 

The  great  diamond  mines  of  South  Africa  asre 
more  orless  circular  in  shape,  the  formation  being 
like  a  huge  cup  of  rock  filled  with  the  blue 
ground  in  which  the  diamonds  are  found.  As 
the  walls  of  rock  are  almost  vertical,  the  taking 
out  of  the  blue  earth  has  left  cavernous  pits,  with 
walls  straight  up  and  down  for  hundreds  of  feet. 

It  is  necessary  to  elevate  the  diamond  dirt  to 
the  ground  level,  then  deposit  it  in  the  open  field, 
where  it  is  allowed  to  "weather"  from  six  months 
to  a  year  before  being  broken  up  and  washed. 
The  gravel  from  the  washings  is  passed  over 
greased  boards  which  catch  and  hold  every 
diamond,  no  matter  how  small.  They  are  then 
extracted  and  sent  away  to  the  lapidary  works  to 
be  cut  and  polished. 

Greatest  of  all  diamonds  ever  found  was  the 
"Cullinan."  This  dazzling  wonder  was  taken 
from  the  Premier  Mine,  South  Africa,  on  Jan- 
uary 25, 1905.  It  measured  4  by  2^  by  2  inches 
in  the  rough,  and  weighed  over  1  1/3  pounds 
avoirdupois — 3,024%  carats,  Its  primal  value 


134      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

defied  estimation,  so  different  was  it  from  all 
other  stones. 

The  "Cullinan"  was  found  by  the  superinten- 
dent of  the  mine,  Mr.  F.  Wells.  He  describes 
the  discovery  thus:  "I  had  a  gang  of  natives 
working.  We  had  gone  down  about  five  feet 

from  the  surface We  were  just  about 

to  knock  off  for  the  day  when  I  saw  something 
white  and  sparkling  lying  on  a  slope  of  the  blue 
dirt.  The  rays  of  the  setting  sun  caught  it,  and 
it  flashed  like  a  small  bonfire  that  might  be 
blazing  fiercely.  Almost  overcome,  I  rushed  to 
the  spot.  The  earth  was  already  loose  about  the 
stone ;  my  knife  blade  finished  the  work,  and  in  a 
few  moments  it  was  in  my  trembling  hands.  I 
was  dazed.  I  dashed  headlong  to  the  office  and 
showed  it  to  Mr.  McHardy  and  Mr.  Cullinan. 

They,  too,  were  amazed The  next  day 

word  was  sent  out  that  the  biggest  diamond  ever 
known  had  been  found." 

Mr.  Wells  was  awarded  $10,000  for  this  find. 

No  person,  no  government,  could  afford  to  pur- 
chase this  wonderful  gem.  What,  then,  was  to 
be  done  with  it? 

General  Botha,  premier  of  the  colony,  hit 
upon  a  happy  solution.  He  suggested  that  the 
Transvaal  buy  the  company's  interest  in  the  gem, 
and  present  it  to  their  king,  Edward  VII. 
Sealed  in  an  ordinary  tin  box,  the  great  diamond 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS      135 

was  sent  by  registered  mail,  and  received  no  more 
care  in  the  handling  than  might  some  simple 
token  from  a  shepherd  lad  to  his  lassie.  It  was 
presented  to  the  king  on  the  sixty-sixth  anni- 
versary of  his  birth,  as  a  testimonial  of  gratitude 
for  the  grant  of  autonomy  bestowed  upon  the 
Transvaal  colony  by  the  English  government. 
King  Edward  assured  the  donors  that  the 
precious  gem  would  ever  be  "preserved  among 
the  historic  jewels  which  form  the  heirlooms  of 
the  crown."  As  is  often  the  case  with  large  dia- 
monds there  were  in  this  certain  imperfections 
and  the  jewel  was  cut  into  several  brilliants. 
The  largest  of  these,  known  as  "The  Star  of 
South  Africa,"  is  itself  the  greatest  and  most 
lustrous  diamond  in  the  world.  It  is  530  1/5 
carats  in  size  and  several  of  the  smaller  pieces  of 
the  "Cullinan"  are  over  150  carats. 

Another  famous  diamond  is  the  "Koh-i-nur." 
This  is  the  most  ancient  noted  gem  in  the  history 
of  the  world — older  than  the  rising  of  the  Star 
of  Bethlehem,  or  the  Tables  of  the  Law — as  old 
as  Egypt's  pyramids.  Its  history  is  a  record  of 
war  and  bloodshed,  from  the  first  trace  that  can 
be  found  of  it  in  India,  an  heirloom  of  the  Rajahs 
of  Malwa,  until  its  acquisition  by  the  British 
crown,  in  1849.  During  this  time  it  passed  to 
the  Moguls  of  Delhi,  to  the  Persian  conqueror, 
Nadir  Shah,  to  Afghan  princes,  to  the  "Lion  of 


136      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

the  Punjab."  All  through  its  devious  course  it 
gleams  through  a  crimson  mist  of  terrible  sacri- 
fice. One  prince  after  another  was  imprisoned, 
tortured  in  cases  to  blindness;  but  not  for  this 
would  they  surrender  the  coveted  jewel,  and  only 
stern  death  itself  wrenched  it  from  them. 

Once  in  its  history  the  "Koh-i-nur"  was  cap- 
tured by  stratagem;  twice  was  it  a  gift  of  ran- 
som. The  story  of  its  tragic  travels  from  owner 
to  owner  is  too  long  to  tell  here,  but  we  will  cite 
its  experience  with  the  fierce  Persian,  Nadir 
Shah.  Nadir  descended  upon  Delhi  for  conquest, 
and  carried  back  with  him  booty  that  reached  into 
the  hundreds  of  millions.  Chief  amongst  all  this 
treasure  was  the  great  diamond,  called  by  Nadir 
"Koh-i-nur,"  meaning  "Mound  of  Light."  Nadir 
had  come  within  a  hair  of  missing  this  prize. 

When  he  appeared  triumphant  before  the 
court  at  Delhi,  where  Mohammed  sat  on  the  Pea- 
cock Throne,  surrounded  by  such  splendor  and 
luxury  as  to  outrank  the  rivalry  of  such  things 
for  ages  back,  the  defeated  ruler  gave  him  un- 
heard of  quantities  of  jewels  as  his  trophy;  but 
the  particular  gem — the  "Koh-i-nur" — which 
Nadir  coveted,  was  not  among  them.  Mohammed 
stoutly  denied  knowing  where  it  was  when  ap- 
proached by  the  angry  victor;  but  just  then  a 
traitor  from  the  harem  told  Nadir  that  it  was 
hidden  in  the  folds  of  Mohammed's  turban. 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS     137 

Before  his  departure  for  Persia,  Nadir  re- 
stored Mohammed  to  the  Mogul  throne.  Upon 
this  occasion  he  craftily  invited  his  royal  captive 
to  exchange  turbans  with  him  in  token  of  their 
everlasting  friendship.  Helpless  and  speechless, 
Mohammed  could  do  nothing  else  than  obey  this 
courtesy.  So  away  went  the  clever  Persian, 
carrying  with  him  both  the  ruler's  turban  and  the 
rare  diamond  it  contained. 

The  "Koh-i-nur"  is  a  brilliant  diamond  of 
grayish  tinge,  weighing  102%  carats.  It  has 
been  recut  from  its  distinctive  Oriental  shape, 
having  thereby  lost  over  80  carats  and  much  of 
its  intrinsic  historic  value.  In  1911  it  was  taken 
from  England  to  India,  its  original  source,  and 
blazed  paramount  at  the  crowning  of  an 
emperor  of  India  at  the  Delhi  Durbar. 

Still  another  famous  diamond  is  the  "Great 
Mogul,"  the  chief  treasure  of  the  Moguls  of 
India  for  generations.  This  was  found  about 
1650,  and  became  the  property  of  the  diamond 
merchant,  Mir  Jumla,  who  presented  it  to  Shah 
Jehan  in  an  effort  to  curry  favor  with  the  new 
court.  It  was  partially  cut,  and  weighed  787% 
carats.  The  Venetian  cutter,  to  whom  Shah 
Jehan  entrusted  it,  was  very  unskillful,  and  in 
cutting  it  wasted  so  much  that  when  he  was  done 
it  weighed  only  280  carats.  The  diamond  was 
then  in  the  form  of  a  dome-shaped  rosette,  like  an 


138      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

egg  cut  in  half.  It  was  of  fine  texture,  of  beauti- 
ful color  and  brilliancy,  flashing  soft,  rosy  lights 
rather  than  fiery  red  ones. 

What  wonder  that  the  natives  fell  on  their 
faces  and  worshipped  it,  believing  it  to  be  the 
spirit  of  their  deity!  One  of  Shah  Jehan's  four 
sons  also  worshipped  the  gem,  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  kept  his  father  in  prison  seven  years  in 
order  to  get  possession  of  it  and  the  kingdom. 
Shah  Jehan  was  so  incensed  that  he  threatened 
to  grind  the  great  diamond  to  bits,  but  his  daugh- 
ter prevented  this,  and  it  finally  went  to  the  cruel 
son  at  his  father's  death. 

The  diamond  was  last  seen  in  the  court  of 
Aurang-zeb,  about  1665.  No  further  record  of 
it  can  be  found.  In  some  unaccountable  manner 
it  vanished,  as  a  lump  of  ice  melts  away  in  the 
hot  sun,  leaving  no  trace. 

The  "Rtegent"  diamond,  in  the  Louvre,  in 
Paris,  weighs  136  carats,  and  is  valued  at 
$2,500,000.  It  is  a  splendid  brilliant,  discovered 
in  India,  in  1701,  by  a  slave  in  the  mines.  In 
order  to  escape  with  his  prize,  the  slave  made  a 
deep  wound  in  his  leg,  and  inserted  the  diamond, 
bandaging  the  injury  in  an  innocent  manner. 
Subsequently  he  sold  the  stone  to  a  merchant  of 
Jamchund  for  1,000  pounds.  This  man  later 
disposed  of  it  to  a  Mr.  Pitt  for  $96,000.  The 
latter  had  it  cut  and  polished,  the  operation 


DIAMOND,  KING  OF  GEMS     139 

requiring  two  years  and  costing  $23,500.  So 
imbued  with  fear  did  Mr.  Pitt  become,  that  he 
would  some  day  be  murdered  and  robbed  of  his 
treasure,  that  he  sold  it  for  $675,000  to  the 
Regent  of  France,  for  the  boy-king-to-be, 
Louis  XV.  Sixty  years  later  it  was  conspicuous 
in  the  new  crown  of  especial  splendor  made  for 
the  coronation  of  Louis  XVI.  During  the 
French  Revolution  the  Tuileries  was  plundered, 
the  crown  jewels  stolen;  but  the  "Regent" 
diamond,  too  well  known  to  be  disposed  of  with- 
out detection,  was  found  cast  aside  by  the 
cunning  thieves. 

This  famous  gem  was  prominent  next  in  the 
sword  hilt  of  Napoleon,  at  his  marriage  to 
Josephine;  and  again  at  his  marriage  to  Marie 
Louise,  where  it  reposed  in  his  gorgeous  head- 
gear. 

Among  the  most  valuable  diamonds  of  recent 
times  are  the  "Victoria"  and  the  "De  Beers." 
The  former  weighs  180  carats,  and  was  purchased 
by  the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad.  The  "De  Beers" 
weighs  225  carats,  and  is  still  in  possession  of  the 
mine  owners. 


IX 
LEAD,  FATHER  OF  BULLETS 

WHEN  you  attach  a  lead  fish-sinker  to 
your  line,  do  you  ever  stop  to  think  how 
that  lead  came  to  be? — how  it  was 
found? — how  it  was  put  into  the  hands  of  man, 
ready  for  his  skill  to  work  upon?  When  you  drop 
a  BB  shot  into  your  airgun,  or  a  "twenty- two" 
cartridge  into  your  little  "real"  rifle,  do  you  ever 
stop  to  think  what  the  world  would  do  if  there 
were  no  lead  from  which  to  make  such  projec- 
tiles? What  would  those  famous  old  woodsmen 
and  Indian-fighters,  Kit  Carson  and  Daniel 
Boone,  have  done  without  the  lead  from  which 
to  mould  their  round  balls  which  proved  so  deadly 
to  animal  and  redskin?  What  would  modern 
hunters  do?  What  would  soldiers  and  sailors  at 
war  do? 

Without  lead  many  of  our  every-day  comforts 
and  conveniences  would  be  either  a  thing  of  the 
past  or  would  be  sadly  altered.  For  instance, 
lead  is  much  used  for  water-pipes,  especially 
where  bends  are  to  be  made  on  the  premises.  It 
is  used  for  making  chambers  to  contain  sulphuric 
acid  and  other  acids  which  would  eat  through 

140 


LEAD  141 

almost  any  other  material.  It  is  used  for  making 
many  kinds  of  toys,  especially  miniature  train 
wheels,  tiny  soldiers,  roly-polys,  come-backs, 
swinging  pollies,  boat  anchors  and  keels.  It  is 
also  used  extensively  for  making  paper-weights, 
and  for  cores  of  gear-wheels  in  modern  clocks. 
The  soles  of  divers'  boots  are  composed  of  it. 

This  is  not  all.  You  will  find  that  when  molten 
lead  is  heated  at  a  moderate  temperature,  with 
constant  stirring,  a  substance  called  litharge  may 
be  obtained  from  it.  Litharge  is  a  valuable  fluid 
much  used  in  manufacturing  arts;  it  is  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  flint  glass,  in  glazing  earthen- 
ware, as  a  paint,  and  for  drying  oils.  Minium, 
another  by-product  of  lead,  has  been  known  ever 
since  the  time  of  Pliny,  and  is  a  scarlet  crystal- 
line granular  powder;  it  finds  extensive  use  in 
the  arts  as  a  pigment,  in  the  manufacture  of  flint- 
glass,  as  a  cement  for  making  steam-tight  or  gas- 
tight  joints,  and  in  the  manufacture  of  secondary 
batteries.  White-lead,  still  another  form,  is  a 
white,  heavy  powder,  and  is  extensively  used  as 
a  pigment  or  as  a  body  for  building  on  other 
colors;  and  boat-builders  also  use  it  for  making 
water-tight  joints.  Lead  acetate,  another  by- 
product, finds  wide  use  in  medicine,  in  the  indus- 
trial arts,  in  refining  sugar,  and  in  chemical 
analysis.  Lead  sulphate,  yet  another  form,  is 
often  used  as  a  substitute  for  white-lead. 


142      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Without  lead  for  their  storage  batteries,  sub- 
marines could  not  operate  when  they  were  sub- 
merged ;  so  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  we  should 
have  such  a  thing  as  an  under-sea  boat  in  that 
event,  for  what  good  would  a  submarine  be  if  it 
could  not  propel  itself  under  water?  Similar  use 
of  lead  will  be  found  in  the  storage  batteries  of 
present-day  automobiles — those  which  run  by 
electricity,  and  those  which  start  by  the  same 
medium.  Commercial  solders  are  composed 
largely  of  lead. 

Lead  is  one  of  the  oldest  known  of  metals,  and 
is,  next  to  gold,  the  heaviest.  It  will  be  found 
mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Numbers  as  a  part  of 
the  spoils  taken  from  the  Midianites.  It  is  also 
referred  to  in  the  Book  of  Job. 

Lead  constitutes  a  greater  percentage  of  the 
rock  in  which  it  is  found  than  any  other  known 
metal.  Hence  it  is  comparatively  cheap  to  mine, 
particularly  because  galena,  in  which  it  is  found, 
usually  contains  a  little  silver,  zinc,  arsenic,  and 
antimony,  and  sometimes  copper  and  even  gold. 
Most  lead  mines  produce  enough  zinc,  especially, 
to  make  the  latter  metal  a  considerable  source  of 
revenue  to  the  owners. 

Lead  ore,  or  galena,  is  found  in  enormous 
quantities  in  many  parts  of  the  world.  Along 
the  Atlantic  border  of  the  United  States  there 
are  numerous  localities  in  which  it  is  found  in 


LEAD  143 

veins  which  cut  through  the  Archean  and  Paleo- 
zoic rocks.  These  deposits  have  not  been  worked, 
however,  for  many  years. 

The  ore  bodies  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  where 
most  of  the  mineral  is  mined,  are  among  the 
finest  in  the  world.  One  of  the  most  productive 
fields  is  in  southeastern  Missouri.  The  ore  is 
mixed  in  limestone  through  a  thickness  of  about 
200  feet.  The  mines  of  La  Motte,  Doe  Run,  and 
Bonne  Terre  are  among  the  best  of  the  district. 

The  argentiferous  lead  ores  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  States  are  found  in  carboniferous  lime- 
stone, and  yield  both  hard  and  soft  ores  which 
contain  cerussite  and  silver  chloride.  In  the 
deeper  workings  the  oxidized  ores  give  way  to 
unchanged  sulphides,  which  are  now  of  immense 
importance. 

Lead-silver  mines  are  operated  at  several 
localities  in  Colorado,  Idaho,  and  Utah.  And 
large  quantities  of  lead  in  crude  form  are 
imported  into  the  United  States  from  Mexico 
and  British  Columbia.  Western  smelters  do  the 
refining. 

Usually  there  is  not  the  slightest  indication,  on 
the  surface,  of  the  valuable  lead  ore  which  may 
lie  under  it.  Therefore,  most  of  the  mines  have 
been  found  by  sinking  down  holes  into  the  rock 
and  taking  tests  of  the  mineral  pierced  by  the 
drill  as  it  comes  up  in  fine  powdered  form.  The 


144      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

ordinary  well-type  of  drill  is  used,  such  as  already 
described  in  an  earlier  chapter.  When  it  is  found 
that  there  is  a  sufficient  quantity  of  lead  ore,  or 
its  attendant  ores,  to  make  the  mine  pay,  shafts 
are  sunk  to  the  levels  of  the  ore  bodies.  Tunnels 
called  "drifts"  are  driven  off  from  the  shaft,  so 
that  the  veins  can  be  reached  fully  and  con- 
veniently. 

The  lead  vein  has  been  formed  in  a  great  crack 
in  the  rocks.  These  cracks  go  down  from  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  right  through  all  the  rocks, 
till,  if  you  could  follow  far  enough  you  would 
probably  come  to  a  place  where  the  internal  fires 
are  so  hot  that  everything — lead  ore  and  sur- 
rounding rocks — are  in  a  state  of  boiling  liquid, 
just  like  lead  when  you  melt  it  yourself. 

The  vein  has  been  formed  by  water  running  up 
and  down  this  crack.  Whenever  the  water  found 
a  hole  or  crevice  in  the  rock  it  began  to  fill  it  up. 
The  water  which  trickled  down  through  the  rocks 
dissolved  a  small  part  of  the  rock  that  it  had  run 
over.  When  the  water  got  into  a  pocket  and 
stayed  there,  it  slowly  evaporated,  and  the  rocky 
sediment  of  limestone  or  other  rock  gradually 
filled  it  up,  forming  in  some  mysterious  manner 
a  compound  of  lead.  This  lead-laden  water 
doubtless  was  forced  up,  through  fissures  in  the 
earth,  by  the  fierce  gases  of  the  furnace  below, 
where  the  lead  really  was  first  mixed  with  the 


LEAD  145 

water.  The  zinc,  silver,  antimony,  and  other 
metals  found  with  lead,  owe  their  origin  to  a 
similar  ejectment,  and  then  slow  evaporation  of 
nature. 

You  must  have  noticed  that  when  syrup  is  left 
uncovered,  the  water  in  it  "dries  up,"  and  after 
a  while  you  can  see  the  grains  of  sugar  left  in  the 
saucer,  or  on  the  top  of  a  jar  of  jam.  In  the  same 
way,  if  a  solution  containing  lead  or  any  other 
metal  becomes  cooler,  the  water  cannot  hold  as 
much  of  the  metal  dissolved  in  it  as  it  did  when 
it  was  warm,  so  the  metal  crystallizes  along  the 
rocky  sides  of  the  seam,  bit  by  bit,  closing  up  the 
passage  till  it  is  all  filled. 

Some  veins  have  been  traced  through  the  hills 
for  miles  and  miles,  continuing  to  furnish  the 
richest  kind  of  lead  ore.  Then,  as  suddenly  as 
you  come  to  the  end  of  a  groundmole's  hole,  the 
vein  will  come  to  an  end.  Perhaps  near  by  a  new 
vein  will  appear.  Or  perhaps  the  one  vein  will 
divide  itself  into  three  or  four  smaller  ones. 
Much  the  same  order  of  things  will  meet  your  eye 
if  you  will  go  to  a  dried-up  mud  puddle  and  look 
at  the  cracks  in  its  sun-baked  bed. 

The  rocky  walls  on  either  side  of  the  lead  vein 
are  called  the  "hanger"  and  "ledger"  walls,  the 
former  being  the  one  under  which  the  slanting 
mine  shaft  is  dug,  and  the  latter  being  the  one  on 
the  opposite  side.  Between  these  walls  the  whole 


146      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

space  of  the  one-time  crack  is  filled  solid  with  the 
galena  or  lead-bearing  ore.  All  of  this  valuable 
core  is  taken  out  by  the  miners,  leaving  only 
sufficient  rock  for  propping  up  the  roof. 

In  sinking  the  shaft,  first  a  series  of  slanting 
holes,  which  converge  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel, 
are  bored  into  the  earth.  These  holes  are  then 
charged  with  dynamite,  and  exploded  at  the 
same  instant.  This  blows  out  the  core  of  rock 
they  are  surrounding,  forming  a  large  hole.  The 
hole  is  then  made  more  square  by  boring  holes 
around  it  in  four  corners  and  dynamiting  these 
sections.  The  process  is  repeated  time  after  time, 
as  fast  as  the  loose  earth  and  rock  can  be 
removed,  till  the  mine  is  a  real  mine,  tracks  are 
laid,  and  cars  begin  to  run  back  and  forth 
carrying  out  the  valuable  ore. 

In  most  lead  mines,  when  your  eyes  become 
accustomed  to  the  darkness,  you  can  see  the  lead 
ore  shining  along  the  walls  quite  brightly.  In 
some  of  them  little  caves  of  beautiful  white 
calcite  crystals — contrasting  strangely  with  the 
dusky  ore — can  be  found.  A  common  occur- 
rence is  to  see  curious  things  hanging  from  the 
roof  and  sides  of  the  passages  which  look  like 
milk-white  icicles.  These  are  called  "stalactites." 
They  grow,  particle  by  particle,  just  like  icicles, 
and  usually  have  a  drop  of  water  at  the  end  of 
each  stem;  but  they  are  hollow  in  the  middle,  and 


LEAD  147 

are  formed  from  limestone  which  has  separated 
itself  from  the  mine  water  trickling  through  the 
walls  here  and  there.  In  places  the  limestone 
water  drips  to  the  floor  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
form  similar  white  spearlike  points.  The  latter 
are  called  "stalagmites."  All  caves  of  limestone 
rock  are  made  picturesque  with  these  two  types 
of  excretion. 

Occasionally  pockets  are  found  near  the 
surface  which  contain  pure  galena.  These  are 
more  or  less  in  the  shape  of  semi-spheres,  some- 
times hundreds  of  feet  across.  Here  mining  is 
easy  and  a  real  bonanza.  Unfortunately 
few  places  are  found  where  lead  is  obtained  so 
readily. 

Lead  ore,  after  being  brought  to  the  surface,  is 
crushed  to  the  fineness  of  sand,  and  sent  to  the 
"jigs,"  where  it  is  mixed  with  water  in  the  huge 
frames  of  that  name,  and  subjected  to  a  steady 
shaking  motion  by  means  of  machinery.  This 
jigging  movement  carries  away  the  lighter  and 
worthless  rock,  called  "gangue."  It  also  sepa- 
rates the  zinc  and  lead  ores  from  one  another, 
and  each  is  collected  in  troughs  or  chutes,  and 
carried  to  bins  until  needed. 

Some  of  the  very  fine  material  cannot  be 
separated  by  the  jigs,  and  passes  to  concentrat- 
ing tables.  Here,  mixed  with  water,  it  passes 
over  boards  which  shake  the  material  in  such  a 


148      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

way  as  to  separate  not  only  the  valuable  ore  from 
the  gangue,  but  the  zinc  from  the  lead  ore  as 
well.  These  products  are  then  sent  to  the  bins 
with  those  from  the  jigs. 

In  smelting,  there  are  three  processes  used. 
These  are  the  roasting  and  reaction,  the  roasting 
and  carbon-reduction,  and  the  iron  precipitation 
process.  All  produce  a  crude  lead  which  requires 
refining  later  in  order  to  yield  a  product  fit  to 
sell  and  use.  We  will  not  attempt  to  describe 
these  processes  here,  as  they  are  too  technical  to 
be  of  general  interest.  But  we  will  say  a  few 
words  in  regard  to  the  refining. 

After  smelting,  the  lead  is  still  too  impure  to 
use  successfully,  owing  to  the  presence  in  it  of 
copper,  arsenic,  antimony,  zinc,  iron,  bismuth, 
tin,  sulphur,  and  possibly  gold  and  silver.  If 
there  is  not  enough  of  the  last  two  precious 
metals  to  make  special  treatment  necessary,  it  is 
refined  by  blowing  steam  through  the  molten 
metal,  which  is  contained  in  a  kettle,  or  by  slowly 
melting  it  in  an  open  furnace  which  shakes  back 
and  forth  during  the  operation.  The  impurities 
collect  on  the  surface  in  a  scum.  The  scum  is 
skimmed  off,  leaving  the  metal  well  refined.  It 
is  then  cast  into  "pigs"  for  market,  each  pig 
weighing  from  80  to  110  pounds. 

Out  of  a  total  world  production  of  lead  in 
1913,  of  1,270,458  short  tons,  the  United  States 


LEAD  149 

contributed  411,878  tons,  considerably  more  than 
any  one  other  country.  About  one-third  of  the 
world's  lead  is  made  into  pipe,  one-fifth  goes  into 
shot,  and  the  rest  into  sheet  lead,  alloys,  and  other 
products. 


X 

GRAPHITE,  BACKBONE  OF  PENCILS 

IT  may  surprise  you  to  know  that  what  you 
have  always  thought  to  be  lead  in  your 
so-called  "lead  pencil"  is  not  lead  at  all,  but 
is  made  of  graphite,  or  plumbago.  This  sub- 
stance is  considerably  lighter  than  lead,  as  you 
can  readily  find  out  for  yourself  by  splitting 
apart  the  wood  of  a  pencil,  freeing  the  "lead," 
and  weighing  the  latter,  then  comparing  it  with 
a  bit  of  real  lead  of  about  the  same  quantity.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  just  balancing  first  one  and  then 
the  other  in  the  hand  will  quickly  show  you  that 
lead  is  much  heavier,  size  for  size,  than  graphite. 
Graphite  has  a  specific  gravity  of  2.2;  lead 
reaches  as  much  as  11.4,  being  more  than  five 
times  heavier. 

Why,  then,  if  lead  pencils  are  not  made  of  lead 
at  all,  are  they  known  by  that  name?  There  is 
only  one  explanation  for  this.  When  graphite 
was  first  discovered  and  used,  it  was  not  given 
the  name  of  graphite,  but  was  called  black-lead, 
or  plumbago. 

Two  of  the  features  about  lead  which  did  more 
to  fool  the  early  geologists  than  anything  else 

150 


GRAPHITE  151 

were  the  close  resemblance  in  color,  and  the  mark- 
ing powers,  of  this  mineral  as  compared  with  the 
same  points  in  the  newly  discovered  black-lead. 
While  it  was  noticed  that  there  was  some  dif- 
ference in  structure,  and  that  the  lead  would  not 
mark  as  blackly  as  the  plumbago,  it  was  still 
thought  they  were  both  of  one  family.  And  while 
geologists,  as  well  as  many  other  people,  know 
differently  now,  the  old  name  had  gotten  such  a 
grip  on  the  fancy  of  pencil  users  that  to  this  day 
they  still  cling  stoutly  to  the  old  name  of  "lead 
pencil";  and  pencil  manufacturers  have  thought 
to  humor  them  enough  to  make  no  attempt  to  tag 
their  product  under  its  right  title,  although  it  is 
true  that  manufacturers  using  graphite  in  other 
forms  for  the  public  have  long  sold  their  com- 
pounds under  their  true  names,  and  citizens  thus 
accept  them  and  speak  of  them.  How  strange 
that  a  customer  will  go  in  a  store  and  ask  the  clerk 
to  show  him  some  "lead  pencils,"  then  stop  his 
automobile  in  front  of  the  first  garage,  and  ask 
the  attendant  to  sell  him  a  can  of  "graphite  lubri- 
cant"— when  in  each  case  he  refers  to  the  same 
identical  substance  in  connection  with  the  pencil 
and  lubricant !  But  people  all  over  the  world  get 
into  some  queer  habits  sometimes  from  very 
simple  causes,  as  we  see. 

While  the  uses  of  graphite  do  not  have  as  wide 
a  range  as  some  other  minerals  which  Mother 


152      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Nature  has  secreted  in  the  earth,  these  uses  are 
very  important.  Chiefest  among  them  is  that  of 
the  pencil,  of  course.  Just  pause  for  a  moment 
and  think  what  you  would  do,  what  your  father 
would  $o,  what  your  teacher  would  do,  what 
newspaper  men  would  do,  what  clerks  and  book- 
keepers would  do,  what  lawyers  would  do,  what 
railway  conductors  would  do,  what  postoffice 
forces  would  do,  what  armies  and  navies  would 
do,  what  the  mayor  and  governor  and  President 
would  do — if  there  was  no  such  thing  as  graphite 
for  pencil  cores !  There  is  a  strong  probability  at 
best  that  the  world  would  not  do  half  the  business 
it  does  to-day,  for  never  has  a  satisfactory  sub- 
stitute been  found  for  graphite  as  a  pencil  center. 
Yet  few  pencils,  if  any,  contain  a  core  of  pure 
graphite.  This  mineral,  in  a  pure  state,  is  far  too 
soft  to  wear  well  in  a  pencil,  or  to  make  fine 
enough  marks  to  be  suitable  for  general  notes  or 
drawings.  Pure  graphite  in  a  pencil  would 
crumble  away  in  sharpening,  almost  melt  away 
in  marking,  and  would  create  broad  lines  which 
would  smut  with  the  least  touch  of  the  hand  or 
any  other  object.  For  this  reason,  and  to  make 
pencils  of  varying  degrees  of  hardness  and  fine- 
ness, which  will  render  them  suitable  to  the  wide 
range  of  uses  to  which  the  world  now  applies 
them,  pencil  manufacturers  mix  the  fine  graphite 
powder  with  different  amounts  of  carbon  (coal) 


GRAPHITE  153 

grit.  The  latter  stiffens  the  graphite  core,  makes 
its  wearing  qualities  far  greater,  reduces  the 
smutting  fault  to  a  comparative  nothing,  and 
gives  the  writer  or  artist  just  the  kind  of  a  record, 
in  tone  and  fineness  of  line,  that  he  wants. 

You  probably  have  noticed,  when  writing  or 
drawing  with  a  pencil,  that  sometimes  it  will,  if 
a  "hard"  pencil,  scratch  the  paper  a  little  rather 
than  leave  a  gray  mark.  This  is  a. defect  in  the 
mixture  in  making  the  compound  of  the  core, 
and  is  caused  by  too  much  carbon  at  that  par- 
ticular point,  a  large  grain  of  carbon  which  in 
some  manner  has  escaped  the  powdering  process. 
As  a  rule  only  inferior  brands  of  pencils,  selling 
at  a  low  price,  will  be  found  with  unbalanced  mix- 
tures of  this  kind. 

The  proportion  of  graphite  in  a  pencil — in 
other  words,  its  "hardness"  or  "softness" — is  des- 
ignated by  manufacturers  by  symbols  printed 
on  the  pencils.  "B"  stands  for  soft,  "H"  for 
hard.  "BB"  is  very  soft,  or  very  little  carbon. 
"HH,"  or  "2n,"  is  double-hard,  "mm,"  or  "3n," 
is  triple-hard;  and  so  on  up  to  "HHHHH/'  or 
"5H,"  which  is  about  as  hard  as  pencils  are  made, 
the  kind  used  for  the  finest  of  mechanical  draw- 
ings and  similar  work. 

Graphite  also  finds  extensive  use  as  a  lubri- 
cant. Mixed  with  various  oils  and  greases,  it 
gives  these  a  heavier  and  far  more  slippery  body 


154      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

than  they  naturally  possess  themselves.  In  this 
form  we  find  it  employed  in  lessening  friction  be- 
tween the  gears  of  automobiles,  printing-presses, 
and  similar  large  machines,  as  well  as  in  smaller 
ones,  such  as  bicycles,  carts,  phonographs  and 
mechanical  window  displays.  Compounded  with 
turpentine  it  makes  stove  blacking;  with  oils,  it 
forms  a  splendid  waterproof  paint.  Used  dry 
with  foundry  sand  it  makes  an  ideal  casting  me- 
dium. Mixed  with  clay  by  a  fusing  action,  it 
makes  the  best  of  refractory  crucibles,  crucibles 
which  will  not  melt  under  the  greatest  heat  man 
can  create  from  the  materials  nature  has  given 
him  and  taught  him  to  use. 

Graphite  varies  a  little  in  color,  running  from 
a  dark  steel-gray  to  a  smutty  black,  according 
to  the  locality  of  its  supply.  It  crystallizes  in  the 
hexagonal  form,  and  may  occur  in  foliated  shape 
also.  Its  greasy  feeling,  softness  and  the  black 
streak  generally  running  through  it,  make  it 
easily  distinguished.  It  is  nearly  pure  carbon, 
with  only  one  or  two  per  cent  of  impurities. 

When  you  have  looked  at  your  pencil,  you 
know  that  it  was  made  in  some  factory;  but  did 
you  ever  stop  to  think  that  the  graphite  ("lead") 
is  a  vegetable,  product  like  the  wood  ?  The  graph- 
ite was  first  a  gas  which  chemists  call  carbon 
dioxide.  It  is  formed  by  combining  two  parts 
of  oxygen  with  one  part  of  carbon. 


GRAPHITE  155 

We  are  all  busy  manufacturing  this  gas  in  our 
bodies,  and  breathing  it  out  as  fast  as  it  collects. 
The  fire  in  the  grate  is  turning  the  coal  into  the 
same  kind  of  gas,  and  sending  it  up  the  chimney. 
This  gas  was  present  very  early  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  It  probably  came  out  of  the  sun, 
along  with  the  rest  of  the  material  from  which 
the  earth  was  made. 

We  are  all  so  accustomed  to  seeing  plants  and 
trees  growing  in  the  ground  that  we  think  all  the 
food  for  them  comes  from  the  dirt.  Really  only 
one  fiftieth  part  of  the  substance  of  a  plant  con- 
sists of  mineral  matter  absorbed  from  the 
ground;  the  other  forty-nine  fiftieths  consist  of 
carbon,  nitrogen  and  water  taken  from  the  air. 

At  the  time  when  the  coal  of  the  world  was 
formed,  the  globe  was  a  very  different  place  from 
what  it  is  to-day.  There  was  a  great  deal  more 
carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  air  than  there  is  now. 
Carbonic  acid  gas,  although  it  feeds  plants, 
poisons  all  the  other  living  things,  humans, 
animals,  fishes,  reptiles,  birds  and  insects.  If 
you  were  to  shut  up  the  doors  and  windows  of 
your  room,  seal  up  all  the  crevices,  and  block  up 
the  chimney,  so  no  pure  air  from  outside  could 
get  in,  you  would  soon  begin  to  feel  very  stupid 
and  sleepy.  Later  you  would  be  assailed  with 
a  dull  headache,  your  eyes  would  grow  heavier 
and  heavier,  your  senses  would  whirl  round  and 


150      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

round,  and  before  long  you  would  probably  fall 
into  a  stupor  from  which  you  might  never  awake, 
because  you  would  be  poisoned  by  the  deadly  gas 
which,we  are  all  breathing  forth  out  of  our  bodies. 

Scientists  say  that  in  the  Carboniferous  Period 
the  earth  was  one  great  steaming  greenhouse. 
We  now  find  the  remains  of  tropical  vegetation 
all  over  the  world.  Even  at  those  coldest  of  cold 
points — the  North  and  South  Poles — the  fossils 
of  soft  plants,  which  now  grow  only  in  hot 
countries  like  Africa  and  South  America,  are 
found  in  great  quantities.  This  goes  to  prove 
that  in  those  prehistoric  days,  millions  of  years 
before  man  or  woman  came,  everything  every- 
where was  the  same  hot,  misty  place,  all  the  year 
round,  without  any  perceptible  difference.  It 
was  the  age  of  perpetual  oven-like  heat.  The 
whole  land  was,  moreover,  soaking  with  water; 
for  we  find  that  it  rained  every  day,  and  poured 
down  fifty  times  harder  than  rains  we  are  used 
to.  From  almost  any  place  you  might  choose  to 
stand,  you  would  find  some  body  of  water  within 
range  of  your  vision — a  stream,  a  pond,  a  lake, 
or  a  swamp. 

Steam  was  constantly  rising  up  into  the  air 
from  the  wet  earth,  and  being  condensed  into 
clouds  which  girdled  the  universe  in  a  great  white 
chain  of  billowy  links,  twenty  miles  high.  These 
clouds  kept  the  heat  of  the  earth  from  escaping 


GRAPHITE  157 

into  space,  and  at  the  same  time  stored  up  most 
of  the  dry  heat  which  came  from  the  sun.  This 
did  much  to  keep  the  earth  the  hot,  moist  place 
it  was  in  the  beginning,  and  to  create  a  suffocat- 
ing amount  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  which  caused 
the  great  plants  to  thrive  in  magnificent  abun- 
dance, but  prohibited  other  forms  of  life  from 
existing.  In  other  words,  the  whole  world  was 
one  vast  greenhouse.  If  you  would  know  how 
such  an  atmosphere  affects  human  health,  visit 
a  few  greenhouses  and  note  the  pale  faces  of  the 
attendants  and  their  listless  step. 

During  this  time  in  the  world's  history,  when 
huge  masses  of  vegetable  matter  covered  the 
whole  country,  the  surface  of  the  earth  was  con- 
stantly sinking.  A  land  on  which  was  growing 
some  great  forest  thousands  of  miles  across, 
would  gradually  sink  down  lower  and  lower, 
until  the  rivers  all  around  it  would  spill  into  it, 
instead  of  running  into  the  sea  as  before,  and  a 
great  lake  would  result.  At  other  times  the  ocean 
itself  would  flood  into  a  tract  of  land  that  had 
sunken  below  its  bed,  and  a  larger  ocean  would 
result. 

If  the  covered  land  consisted  of  trees  and 
plants,  the  force  of  waters  would  soon  knock 
them  down,  lap  over  them,  and  form  them  into 
a  tangled  mass  of  mud  and  vegetable  fibre  at 
the  bottom  of  the  new  lake  or  new  ocean-way,  as 


158      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

the  case  might  be.  The  violent  and  frequent  rains 
of  that  time  would  not  be  long  in  gnawing  away 
the  sides  of  mountains  and  hills,  as  well  as  the 
banks  of  streams.  So  the  rivers  after  a  rain 
would  be  thick  with  mud,  and  at  times  would  flow 
like  treacle,  bringing  down  enough  sand  and 
gravel  to  fill  up  the  vast  lake  in  which  the  old 
forest  of  huge  plants  had  been  drowned.  Float- 
ing masses  of  vegetation  often  became  water- 
logged and  sank  to  the  bottom. 

Long  before  the  lake  had  been  filled  up  with 
this  mud  and  decaying  plant  life,  other  plants 
took  foothold  in  the  muck  and  began  to  take 
their  place.  There  were  giant  horse-tails,  mosses 
with  brilliant  green  fringe  as  long  as  your  arm, 
jungle  plants  with  leaves  as  large  as  a  big  kite; 
and  all  kinds  of  rank  water  weeds  would  struggle 
up  through  the  morass  and  intertwine  on  the 
surface  like  a  net.  Then  as  the  lake  became  shal- 
lower and  shallower,  scale  trees  and  monkey- 
puzzle  trees  and  tropical  ferns  would  spring  up 
out  of  the  marsh,  and  their  dead  stalks  and  leaves 
would  later  help  to  fill  up  the  remainder  of  the 
lake — until  at  last  a  new  forest  had  grown  up 
right  on  top  of  the  old  one. 

This  great  heap  of  mud  and  sand  and  growing 
trees,  piled  up  and  growing  on  the  sinking  crust 
of  the  world,  would  make  it  very  much  heavier 
at  this  place,  and  aid  in  causing  the  land  to  sink 


GRAPHITE  159 

down  into  the  earth  again.  This  would  of  course 
create  a  new  hollow,  which  would  quickly  fill  up 
with  water  from  nearby  higher  bodies.  The  in- 
rushing  new  waters  would  kill  the  new  forest. 
Its  trees  would  fall  as  a  tangled  mass  to  the  bot- 
tom; and  so,  on  and  on,  the  story  would  be  re- 
peated. These  plants  turned  into  coal. 

Coal,  the  source  of  graphite,  may  truthfully 
be  said  to  be  bottled  sunshine.  The  sunbeams 
gave  the  growing  plants  their  strength  and 
energy  to  break  up  the  little  particles  of  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  digest  the  carbon,  and  build  it 
into  their  own  bodies,  and  set  the  oxygen  free. 
As  you  sit  before  the  grate  warming  yourself  on 
a  cold  winter's  day,  you  are  really  enjoying  the 
sunshine  of  millions  of  years  ago,  preserved  for 
you  by  little  green  plant  cells  which  lived  and 
died  in  that  far-away  past,  that  you  in  time  of 
need  might  have  comfort  in  the  form  of  fuel, 
and  graphite  for  pencils  and  other  things. 

If  a  tree  falls  on  the  ground  and  dies,  nearly 
all  its  substance  is  broken  up  into  gases,  and 
escapes  into  the  air;  but  if  the  tree  falls  into 
water,  the  water  preserves  it,  and  it  may  last 
for  hundreds  of  years.  The  first  thing  to  protect 
our  coal  was  the  water  into  which  the  tree  trunks 
fell.  The  second  thing  was  a  layer  of  clay  or 
mud-rock  which  formed  itself  over  them.  This 
layer  is  not  always  on  top  of  the  coal ;  there  may 


be  one  or  two  layers  of  sandstone  between.  The 
layer  of  clay  stuff,  which  is  called  "shale,"  acts 
in  the  same  way  as  the  air-tight  lid  of  a  fruit  jar 
in  which  a  housekeeper  is  putting  up  some  fruit. 
It  keeps  out  the  air,  and  prevents  the  carbonic 
acid  gas,  which  has  formed  by  the  decomposition 
of  vegetable  matter,  from  escaping.  The  objects 
thus  bottled  up  are  kept  from  further  going  to 
pieces,  and  remain  in  the  same  state  in  which 
they  were  when  the  "lid"  was  sealed  down  over 
them,  until  finally,  by  the  action  of  the  weight 
of  rocks  piled  on  top  of  them,  and  the  heat  com- 
ing up  from  the  center  of  the  earth,  the  plant 
trunks  are  squeezed  and  baked  and  boiled  into 
cakes  of  coal,  or  graphite. 

Very  frequently  we  find  the  roots  of  the  coal 
plants  and  trees  growing  in  a  layer  of  clay  or 
sandstone;  then  we  have  a  seam  of  coal  formed 
from  the  remains  of  the  vegetation  resting  di- 
rectly on  the  stumps  of  the  old  trees.  Above 
these  we  find  a  bed  of  sandstone,  then  another  of 
shale,  then  a  higher  bed  of  clay.  In  the  latter 
are  the  roots  of  trees  of  another  generation  of 
forests,  with  a  layer  of  coal  on  top  of  them ;  and 
'so  on  until  in  some  places  as  many  as  fifty  seams 
of  coal  have  been  formed,  one  above  the  other, 
and  sandwiched  in  between  layers  of  sandstone 
and  clay. 

While  graphite,  like  coal,  is  composed  chiefly 


GRAPHITE  161 

of  carbon,  a  product  of  this  buried  plant  life,  it  is 
a  very  much  rarer  mineral.  It  is  found  only  in 
those  spots  where  molten  rock  has  squeezed 
through  cracks  above  or  below  the  seams  of  coal, 
which  has  caused  the  coal  to  go  through  a  sort 
of  baking  process  that  has  changed  it  into  the 
softer,  greasy-feeling  substance  we  call  graphite, 
plumbago,  and  black-lead.  Thus,  strange  though 
it  may  seem  at  first  thought,  we  now  see  that  the 
wood  casing  of  a  pencil  and  the  pencil's  "lead" 
come  in  reality  from  the  same  identical  thing — a 
tree. 

Although  it  is  found  in  many  different  parts 
of  the  world,  graphite  seldom  occurs  alone  in 
large  deposits,  but  is  usually  mixed  with  other 
minerals.  It  requires  special  treatment  after 
mining  in  order  to  separate  it  from  the  rock  and 
other  earthen  matter  in  which  it  lies  embedded. 
The  substances  with  which  it  is  found  are  lime- 
stone, gneiss,  or  schist,  and  especially  minerals  of 
the  pre-Cambrian  age.  It  has  also  been  found 
in  small  quantities  in  meteorites,  or  heavenly 
bodies  which  have  been  thrown  to  the  ground 
from  out  of  the  skies. 

There  are  two  forms  of  graphite  which  we 
recognize.  One  of  these  is  the  crystalline  or  true 
graphite;  the  other  is  the  amorphous  or  pul- 
verulent form. 

The  vein-like  deposits  of  crystalline  graphite 


162      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

have  undoubtedly  been  formed  in  fractures,  prob- 
ably at  considerable  depth.  Various  theories 
have  been  advanced  by  geologists  to  explain  this 
composition;  in  the  case  of  the  veins  in  Ceylon, 
Weinschenk  believes  that  the  graphite  came 
originally  from  volcanic  eruptions  and  was  due 
to  a  reaction  between  carbon  dioxide  and  cyan- 
ogen compounds.  Crystalline  graphite  is  used 
largely  in  the  manufacture  of  crucibles  and  lu- 
bricants. 

Many  amorphous  graphite  deposits  were  once 
coal  beds  which  have  been  converted  into  graphite 
by  the  creeping  in  of  igneous  rock,  as  in  Sonora, 
Mexico,  and  at  Turret,  Colorado,  both  of  which 
places  possess  valuable  mines  of  this  kind  of 
plumbago.  It  is  used  chiefly  in  pencils,  paints 
and  boiler  compounds. 

In  1898  a  way  was  found  at  Niagara  Falls  for 
making  artificial  graphite  from  coke.  That  very 
year  200,000  pounds  of  carbon  rods,  were 
graphitized  in  the  electric  furnaces,  and  scientists 
were  enthusiastic  at  the  success  of  the  experi- 
ment. By  1912  the  production  jhad  risen  to 
12,896,347  pounds.  It  is  said  that  the  artificial 
kind  of  graphite  is  just  as  good  as  the  natural 
mineral  as  an  electricity  conductor,  for  use  as  a 
lubricant,  and  for  making  "leads"  for  pencils. 

Even  though  the  production  of  graphite  in 
the  United  States  has  been  increasing  almost 


GRAPHITE  163 

every  year,  we  do  not  turn  out  half  enough  to 
meet  the  domestic  demand,  and  so  our  manu- 
facturers have  to  import  considerable  quantities 
from  other  countries  in  order  to  get  enough  for 
all  of  their  purposes.  Our  country  produced,  in 
1913,  4,445  short  tons  of  natural  graphite,  and 
manufactured  6,817  short  tons.  Close  to  30,000 
short  tons  were  imported. 


XI 
LIMESTONE,  EVERY  MAN'S  FRIEND 

ONE  of  the  most  common  stones,  and  one 
of  the  most  useful,  is  limestone.  It  is  used 
in  nearly  every  nook  and  cranny  of  the 
civilized  world  in  one  form  or  another.  And  it  is 
found  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  country,  also. 
When  the  Lord  made  this  valuable  stone,  so 
necessary  to  the  well-being  of  every  person,  he 
took  all  pains  to  see  that  it  should  be  planted  in 
everybody's  backyard,  so  to  speak,  where  it 
would  be  easy  to  reach. 

In  its  very  simplest  form,  limestone  is  a  rock 
formed  by  the  combination  of  calcium  or  mag- 
nesium with  oxygen  or  carbon.  Magnesium  and 
calcium  are  both  metals  that  closely  resemble  tin 
or  zinc  in  appearance. 

We  all  know  that  oxygen  is  the  part  of  the  air 
that  keeps  up  our  life  when  we  breathe  it  into 
our  lungs.  We  likewise  know  that  while  this 
oxygen  is  in  our  bodies  it  undergoes  a  chemical 
change,  so  that  when  we  expel  it  out  of  our  lungs 
into  the  air  again  it  is  no  longer  pure  oxygen,  but 
has  become  a  deadly  gas  called  carbon  dioxide. 
The  coming  together  of  pure  oxygen,  and  this 

164 


LIMESTONE  165 

carbon  dioxide  from  decaying  vegetable  life, 
forms  a  combination  which,  meeting  either  cal- 
cium or  magnesium,  makes  the  many  different 
kinds  of  limestone  known  to  us.  Each  of  the 
metals  produces  its  own  peculiar  kind  of  stone, 
and  each  kind  of  stone  has  its  numei  ous  uses. 

In  certain  forms  of  crystallization,  the  com- 
binations mentioned  make  a  clear  stone  which  is 
so  transparent  that  it  resembles  glass.  This 
peculiar  substance,  however,  is  found  only  in  a 
few  places.  Elsewhere  there  are  other  substances 
or  impurities  which  produce  a  great  variety  of 
colors,  and  add  special  characteristics  to  the  looks 
and  texture  of  the  limestone,  just  as  people's 
faces  and  forms  and  dispositions  vary  according 
to  their  heritage  and  environment. 

Like  all  things  else,  limestone  had  once  to  be 
made.  One  kind  was  built  under  water  by 
myriads  of  tiny  animals  which  extracted  the  rock- 
forming  materials  from  the  salty  seawater  in 
which  they  lived,  and  deposited  them  in  fantastic 
forests  of  coral.  Another  kind  was  formed  by 
accumulations  of  shells  of  different  kinds.  Still 
other  kinds  were  shaped  by  nature  out  of  the 
materials  left  by  the  seas  when  they  evaporated, 
or  changed  their  beds  owing  to  a  new  wrinkling 
of  the  earth's  crust  somewhere  not  far  distant. 

By  these  different  methods  have  been  de- 
veloped many  kinds  of  rock,  and  all  limestones, 


166      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

varying  all  the  way  from  the  most  delicately 
colored  onyx,  and  the  whitest  marble,  through 
many  classes  of  the  ordinary  limestone,  down  to 
the  slimy  or  muddy  matter  closely  resembling 
ordinary  earth.  From  the  different  classes  and 
qualities  of  stone  are  prepared  not  only  many 
necessary  articles,  but  the  finest  gems  of  art, 
as  well. 

Thus  the  beautiful  marbles  which*  when  hewn 
and  shaped  by  man's  hand,  produce  the  greatest 
examples  of  statuary  in  the  world,  are  in  reality 
nothing  but  limestone.  The  famous  Colosseum 
of  ancient  Rome — the  largest  theater  the  universe 
has  ever  known — and  the  more  modern  Cathedral 
of  St.  Peter  in  the  same  city,  were  built  of 
travertine,  a  form  of  limestone,  and  are  the  most 
magnificent  specimens  of  limestone  architecture 
ever  raised  to  the  heavens  from  which  all  things 
animate  and  inanimate  have  come.  In  our  own 
time,  and  own  country,  striking  examples  of  the 
beautiful  and  impressive  structures  built  from 
limestone  are  the  National  Capitol  and  Wash- 
ington's Monument,  at  Washington,  and  St. 
Patrick's  and  St.  John's  Cathedrals,  in  New 
(York  City. 

In  addition  to  its  architectural  uses,  limestone 
plays  a  most  important  part  in  the  commercial 
and  industrial  life  of  the  world  of  to-day,  more  so 
than  in  the  past.  One  of  its  most  valuable  ap- 


LIMESTONE  167 

plications  in  this  connection  is  in  the  refining  of 
metals,  where  it  is  used  as  a  "flux,"  or  means  of 
making  iron  and  similar  substances  melt  easier, 
and  in  collecting  or  separating  certain  impurities 
from  the  molten  mass.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
make  iron  or  steel  without  limestone,  especially 
of  the  quality  and  on  the  large  scale  with  which 
they  are  now  produced.  Millions  of  tons  of  lime- 
stone are  used  annually  in  the  steel  industry 
alone. 

Limestone  is  burned  in  kilns  to  produce  lime. 
The  intense  heat  drives  out  the  carbon  dioxide 
from  the  hard  rock,  leaving  only  the  metallic 
substance  and  the  oxygen.  In  this  form  it  is 
known  as  "quicklime,"  which  is  used  in  the  mak- 
ing of  mortars  and  plasters,  and  for  the  treat- 
ment of  soils  as  an  enriching  agent. 

You  cannot  have  failed  to  hear  a  good  deal 
about  a  substance  called  "concrete" ;  in  fact,  every 
city  boy  sees  concrete  every  day  of  his  life,  walks 
upon  it  to  and  from  school,  perhaps  sits  on  a  con- 
crete bench  at  recess,  perhaps  crosses  a  concrete 
bridge  with  a  letter  which  he  mails  for  his  mother 
in  a  concrete  postoffice,  after  the  day's  studies  are 
over  and  he  has  left  the  concrete  schoolhouse. 
Great  skyscraper  office  buildings  and  warehouses 
are  made  of  concrete.  Even  huge  ships,  with 
concrete  hulls,  decks  and  cabins,  are  now  plough- 
ing their  way  back  and  forth  across  the  oceans. 


168      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

The  truth  is,  concrete  is  a  substance  known  to 
everyone,  and  is  one  of  the  most  essential  con- 
structive materials  known  to  modern  civilization. 
But  while  thousands  mix  and  mould  it,  and  count- 
less millions  admire  it  in  a  finished  state,  only  a 
comparatively  few  know  that  without  limestone 
there  would  be  no  cement  worthy  of  the  name  to 
bind  together  the  water,  sand,  and  gravel,  which 
give  strength  and  body  to  the  compounded  con- 
crete. For  this  last  purpose  the  use  of  limestone 
has  reached  gigantic  proportions. 

At  this  time  the  subject  of  transportation  is 
one  of  the  greatest  importance.  The  late  war 
left  the  railroads  in  a  sad  state  of  repair,  with 
little  good  rolling  stock;  therefore,  manufac- 
turers and  shippers  all  over  the  land  have  been 
trying  to  keep  their  goods  moving  out  to  dealers 
and  consumers  by  the  use  of  automobile  trucks. 
Of  course  this  state  of  affairs  immediately  called 
almost  every  shipper's  attention  to  the  condi- 
tion of  the  roads,  and  everything  that  could  be 
done  to  improve  them  was  done,  so  that  the  trucks 
could  make  better  time.  Every  decent  road  in 
the  country  was  well  sprinkled  with  farmers 
coming  into  town  with  farm  produce,  with  city 
buyers  chugging  out  to  call  on  the  stay-at-home 
farmers,  and  with  town  and  city  automobiles 
making  inter-city  trips  to  dispose  of  homemade 
articles.  "We  want  good  roads !"  "Give  us  good 


LIMESTONE  169 

roads!"  became  the  cry  of  the  drivers,  the  pro- 
ducers, the  consumers.  People  even  moved  their 
household  goods  from  city  to  city,  as  much  as  a 
hundred  miles,  by  truck,  and  these  persons  and 
the  moving-van  owners  also  cried  for  good  roads. 

How  did  they  get  them  ?  By  the  counties  and 
State  raising  funds  to  buy — limestone.  Lime- 
stone became  at  once  the  most  important  single 
substance  for  making  bad  roads  good  and  good 
roads  better.  Now  you  will  see  it  on  roads  almost 
everywhere.  On  some  roads  it  is  laid  raw,  being 
crushed  into  small  pieces  and  evenly  distributed 
over  an  earthen  bed,  usually  clay.  On  other 
roads  it  is  sometimes  more  finely  crushed,  and 
mixed  with  tar  or  some  similar  binder  to  give  it 
a  solid  body.  Even  the  railroads  often  call  for 
it  as  something  fine  for  ballasting  up  their  tracks. 

On  the  farms — especially  those  of  the  central 
and  eastern  States — millions  of  pounds  of  lime, 
either  as  finely  ground  limestone  or  as  burned 
lime,  are  needed  to  "sweeten"  the  soil  and  make 
possible  the  better  production  of  important  foods 
for  man  and  beast.  In  other  words,  crops  grow 
much  more  thriftily  and  with  more  appealing 
taste  because  of  this  homely  limestone. 

But  its  usefulness  does  not  stop  here.  We 
could  go  on  and  on  for  some  time,  naming  its 
valuable  uses,  and  not  speak  of  one  twice,  were 
we  so  minded.  It  is  enough  to  finish,  however, 


170      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

with  a  reference  to  its  importance  in  chemical 
manufacture.  In  this  industry  it  is  used  to  pro- 
duce such  well-known  and  highly  desirable 
chemicals  as  caustic-soda  soda-ash,  salicylic  acid, 
baking  soda,  and  a  variety  of  kindred  compounds. 
Would  you  believe  it  ? — even  the  refreshing  glass 
of  soda-water,  the  tart  bottle  of  pop  or  ginger 
ale,  and  many  other  sparkling  drinks  which  you 
may  have  tried,  owe  their  very  popular  existence 
to  the  gas  derived  from  limestone!  Strange 
though  it  may  seem,  the  sugar  with  which  they 
are  sweetened  required  a  certain  proportion  of 
lime  in  its  preparation. 

The  story  of  the  progress  of  limestone,  from 
the  quarry  where  it  is  won  from  massive  beds  or 
ledges,  to  its  ultimate  use,  is  very  interesting. 
The  methods  of  getting  it  out  differ,  according 
to  the  use  that  is  to  be  made  of  the  stone.  For 
the  gigantic  building  blocks  and  slabs  the  most 
painstaking  care  is  required  to  prevent  the  shat- 
tering or  cracking  of  the  desired  pieces,  one  check 
in  any  one  of  which  would  mean  the  ruination  of 
that  particular  segment,  and  the  loss  of  hours  of 
laborious  toil.  In  this  case  the  top  or  useless 
earth  and  stone,  called  "the  stripping,"  is  re- 
moved until  the  solid,  usable  rock  is  reached. 
This  is  cut  off  in  blocks  or  slabs  by  different 
means.  Sometimes  the  sections  are  marked  out 
by  holes  drilled  close  together.  Steel  wedges 


LIMESTONE  171 

driven  in  these  will  often  break  loose  the  whole 
block;  but  if  this  fails  or  does  not  look  feasible, 
light  charges  of  blasting  powder  are  inserted  in 
the  holes  and  exploded. 

In  some  quarries  heavy  machines  are  now  used 
for  freeing  the  blocks  from  the  quarry  walls. 
These  are  so  powerful  and  well  handled  that  they 
actually  chisel,  with  a  greater  ease  than  you  could 
cut  out  a  square  of  wood  from  a  soft  pine  board, 
the  great  blocks  of  limestone  from  the  parent 
ledge.  Derricks  operated  by  steam  or  electricity 
swing  the  huge  blocks  upon  flat  cars  standing  on 
nearby  tracks  which  run  down  into  the  pit  and 
along  just  below  the  serried  walls.  The  cars 
transport  them  to  the  stone-cutting  establish- 
ments all  over  the  land.  Here,  by  means  of  spe- 
cial machinery,  with  water  as  a  lubricant,  the 
great  pieces  are  sawed,  chiseled,  and  planed  into 
the  desired  shapes  and  sizes.  If  they  are  to  ap- 
pear in  an  ornamental  way,  artisans  wielding 
sturdy  little  pneumatic  chisels  sculpture  them 
into  the  most  elaborate  and  beautiful  figures. 

But  for  the  greater  use  of  limestone  this  care 
in  quarrying  is  not  required,  for  the  reason  that 
the  stone  must  ultimately  be  broken  up  into  small 
fragments.  Consequently,  the  quarrymen  in- 
variably adopt  the  faster  method  of  coaxing  the 
blocks  from  their  holdings,  which  is  to  force  them 
loose  with  charges  of  dynamite.  The  holes  are 


172      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

not  bored  so  close  together,  nor  so  deep,  for  small 
blocks;  and  lighter  charges  are  used,  sometimes 
only  a  few  pounds.  But  when  great  piles  of  stone 
are  to  be  secured,  long,  rows  of  holes  are  drilled 
back  of  the  "face"  or  wall  of  the  quarry,  and 
loaded  with  tons  of  explosive.  All  of  the  holes 
are  fired  together,  and  a  successful  shot  brings 
down  a  veritable  avalanche  of  broken  rock. 

Another  method,  popular  in  some  parts  of 
the  country,  is  to  dig  tunnels  under  great  masses 
of  limestone,  and  pack  the  ends  of  the  tunnels 
with  hundreds  of  kegs  of  powder  and  some  dyna- 
mite. Such  a  blast  actually  lifts  the  mountain  or 
hill  if  it  is  of  ordinary  size,  and  shatters  the  rock 
in  a  chaotic  storm. 

So  we  see  that  explosives  are  required  for 
tearing  the  broken  limestone  from  the  heart  of 
the  hillside  or  mountain-side;  and  somewhere  far 
back  in  the  history  of  the  steel  rail,  the  carving 
knife,  the  toothsome  bonbon,  the  sparkling  soda, 
there  was  a  terrific  thud  of  confined  explosive  as 
these  familiar  friends  of  ours  began  their  life  of 
usefulness  to  mankind. 


XII 
LITTLE    GRAINS    OF    SAND 

YES,  just  little  grains  of  sand.    Very  com- 
mon,   very    ordinary,    very    old    friends, 
played  with  since  we  were  the  tiniest  of 
tots,  there  on  the  summer  seashore  where  Mother 
and  Daddy  took  us,  and  there  in  the  kindergarten 
where  we  received  our  first  Qay's  schooling. 

It  would  be  farthest  from  our  thoughts,  we  are 
sure,  ever  to  connect  this  homely  substance  of 
Mother  Earth  with  valuable  and  important 
things  which  great  factories  manufacture,  and 
which  we  and  other  people  all  over  the  world  need 
very  much.  Yet  it  is  true  that  were  it  not  for 
sand  we  would  miss  many  comforts  and  con- 
veniences which  we  enjoy  to-day.  It  is  extremely 
doubtful  if  we  should  have  any  window  glass, 
glass  dishes,  cameras,  telescopes,  opera  glasses, 
magnifying  glasses,  mirrors,  bottles,  marbles, 
lamp  chimneys  and  lamps,  and  numerous  other 
articles  made  of  glass.  Just  think  what  that 
would  mean :  Dark  houses  in  the  day-time  in  cold 
weather  and  no  chance  to  look  out  at  passing 
sights ;  no  photographs  of  our  dear  ones  or  any- 
body else;  no  magazines  and  books  with  pic- 

173 


174      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

tures;  no  "movies";  no  way  even  to  see  an 
image  of  ourselves  unless  we  went,  like  the  primi- 
tive savage,  to  the  clear  brook,  where  a  hazy  re- 
flection might  meet  our  gaze;  no  intimate 
understanding  of  insect  life  and  fine  structures  of 
all  kinds,  such  as  the  magnifying  glass  has  given 
the  world. 

Common  sand  consists  either  of  small  crystals 
of  quartz,  or  of  the  remains  of  larger  crystals, 
which  have  been  broken  up  into  small  particles 
or  grains.  If  you  examine  a  few  grains  of  sand 
under  the  miscroscope  you  will  be  surprised  to 
see  how  transparent  and  beautiful  they  are.  In 
the  quartz  will  generally  be  found  a  small  pro- 
portion of  mica  or  isinglass,  some  feldspar, 
magnetite,  and  other  resistant  minerals.  Sand  is 
really  produced  by  the  wearing  effects  of  rains, 
and  the  abrasion  or  rubbing  together  of  stone 
against  stone,  or  rock  against  rock.  Gradually 
the  tiny  bits  of  rock  are  scoured  off  from  the 
parent  quartz,  and  go  to  mingle  with  countless 
other  particles,  and  become  "sand,"  as  we  know 
it.  It  is  blown  about  by  the  winds  of  every  day, 
and  carried  hither  and  thither  by  the  streams. 
Even  you  and  I,  when  we  strike  off  for  a  hike, 
help  to  distribute  it  when  we  get  it  in  our  shoes, 
and  travel  a  mile  or  so  before  we  deem  it  neces- 
sary to  shake  it  out.  It  is  an  important  part  of 
most  soils,  and  is  very  abundant  on  the  surfaces 


LITTLE  GRAINS  OF  SAND      175 

along  the  courses  of  rivers,  on  the  shores  of  lakes 
and  the  sea,  and  in  arid  or  desert  regions. 

Have  you  ever  noticed  at  the  seaside,  when  you 
have  been  walking  across  the  damp  sand,  that 
the  sand  around  your  foot  seemed  to  dry  up 
strangely  when  you  first  put  down  your  foot, 
and  then,  as  soon  as  you  raised  it,  became  very 
wet  again? 

If  you  will  remember  that  the  sand  consists  of 
little  crystals  of  quartz,  and  that  each  of  these 
are  six-sided  columns,  with  six-sided  pyramids 
at  each  end,  you  will  be  able,  probably,  to  figure 
out  just  how  the  phenomenon  occurs.  Under- 
stand that  the  little  grains  of  sand  arrange  them- 
selves automatically  in  rows,  side  against  side, 
so  that  they  fit  into  one  another  and  make  a  very 
compact  mass.  When  your  foot  pressed  down 
the  crystals  beneath  it,  these  disturbed  grains 
tried  to  wedge  their  pointed  ends  into  the  long 
joints  between  the  sides  of  the  grains  just  be- 
neath them.  The  crystals  below  were  forced 
aside  enough  to  open  up  tiny  spaces  between 
them,  and  as  quick  as  "scat"  the  water  above  ran 
down  into  these  crevices,  leaving  the  sand  above 
quite  dry.  Just  as  soon  as  the  pressure  of  your 
foot  was  removed,  the  disarranged  crystals 
formed  in  perfect  order  again,  squeezed  out  the 
water  from  the  cracks  between,  and  caused  it  to 
seek  the  upper  sand  level  once  more. 


176     SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

By  reason  of  this  very  compact  natural  ar- 
rangement of  all  sand  grains,  sand  makes  one 
of  the  finest  bulwarks  for  stopping  cannon  balls 
and  other  high-powered  shot  that  has  ever  been 
used.  Almost  all  government  target  ranges  have 
hills  of  sand  behind  the  targets  to  prevent  farther 
progress  of  the  missiles,  which  might  otherwise 
go  on  and  injure  people  far  behind  them.  In  all 
wars  bags  filled  with  sand  have  proven  splendid 
shields  in  making  hasty  entrenchments.  Each 
little  grain  of  the  countless  millions  of  sand 
crystals  forms  its  own  peculiarly  strong  re- 
sistance to  the  advance  of  the  bullet,  and  the 
consequence  is  that  this  resistance  is  multiplied  so 
fast,  as  the  missile  forces  its  way  in,  that  it  soon 
loses  all  power  to  advance  another  iota,  and  be- 
comes "dead." 

A  very  interesting  sight  are  the  sand  dunes 
along  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  Especially 
at  the  southern  end  of  the  lake  do  these  mounds 
of  clear  sand  rise  up  to  great  heights,  appearing 
like  small  mountains  rather  than  hills.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  tides  and  the  vagrant  winds 
are  keeping  these  dunes  in  an  almost  constant 
state  of  movement,  wiry  grasses  persist  in  grow- 
ing in  them,  and  sometimes  shrubs  and  trees  have 
taken  root  and  help  to  keep  them  anchored  in 
place. 

Some  sands  contain  the  valuable  ores,  iron, 


LITTLE  GRAINS  OF  SAND     177 

gold,  and  platinum;  and  other  metals  are  occa- 
sionally obtained  from  sand  in  paying  quantities. 

It  is  usually  one  of  the  principal  ingredients 
in  making  concrete,  is  used  extensively  by  rail- 
way locomotives  for  making  the  wheels  stick  bet- 
ter to  the  tracks  in  going  up  a  steep  grade,  is 
often  thrown  on  icy  walks  to  help  pedestrians,  is 
employed  in  making  mortar  for  laying  bricks, 
and  is  widely  used  all  over  the  world  as  a  filtrat- 
ing agent  for  purifying  drinking  water.  Prop- 
erly mixed  with  clay,  it  forms  one  of  the  finest 
soils  for  the  production  of  crops. 

But  of  all  its  numerous  uses  there  is  none  per- 
haps quite  so  important  as  that  applied  to  the 
manufacture  of  glass.  Here  sand  becomes  a 
veritable  giant  of  value  to  mankind. 

Common  as  is  glass  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it  adds 
more  to  our  daily  comfort  and  happiness  than 
the  costliest  gems  which  the  mines  can  yield.  We 
have  already  spoken  of  what  a  dreary  place  this 
world  would  be  with  no  window  panes  to  give 
us  light,  and  none  through  which  to  view  the  out- 
side universe  as  it  swirled  by  in  never-ending  in- 
terest. And  it  is  quite  evident  that  none  of  us 
would  wish  to  go  back  to  the  times  when  people 
drank  out  of  gourds  and  horns  instead  of  glass 
goblets.  Nor  would  we  care  to  use  bottles  made 
of  skins  in  place  of  our  convenient  present-day 
glass  bottles.  In  the  beautiful  stained  glass 


178      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

windows  of  the  great  cathedrals,  and  in  exquisite 
vases  and  costly  cut  glass  tableware,  we  see 
something  of  the  artistic  possibilities  of  this  very 
useful  substance. 

Glass  is  not  a  natural  substance,  like  gold, 
silver  or  coal,  but  is  an  artificial  compound;  that 
is,  it  is  made  by  putting  together  several  sub- 
stances. The  principal  ingredients  used  are :  ( 1 ) 
sand  (or  crushed  quartz  or  flint),  (2)  lime,  and 
(3)  sodium  carbonate,  or  potassium  carbonate  or 
sodium  sulphate.  For  various  kinds  of  glass, 
other  materials  are  added,  such  as  manganese, 
cobalt,  copper,  zinc,  tin,  arsenic,  saltpeter,  etc.; 
pigments  for  coloring  are  also  added. 

Cheap  grades  of  glass  are  made  from  common 
sea  and  river  sand;  but  for  the  manufacture  of 
better  qualities  the  sand  is  quarried ;  that  is,  dug 
out  of  pits.  Thus,  ordinary  bottles  and  window 
glass  would  be  made  from  sea  and  river  sand, 
while  such  fine  quality  as  plate  glass  and  mirror 
stock,  also  high-grade  tableware,  would  be 
formed  from  the  quarried  sand. 

Lime  is  found  in  nearly  all  varieties  of  glass, 
but  lead  oxide  is  substituted  in  making  those 
kinds  which  require  a  brilliant  luster  and  a  high 
degree  of  transparency,  such  as  flint  glass  used 
for  lamp  chimneys,  for  cut  glassware,  and  for 
some  of  the  lenses  of  optical  instruments,  and 
the  strass  or  paste  used  in  imitation  diamonds. 


LITTLE  GRAINS  OF  SAND      179 

The  lime  has  the  effect  of  softening  the  glass,  so 
it  must  be  used  sparingly. 

In  preparing  the  sand  for  making  glass  the 
manufacturer  does  everything  possible  to  free  it 
from  impurities.  In  many  cases  it  is  stirred  in 
great  quantities  of  water,  then  burned  in  the 
flames  of  a  fire,  and  finally  sifted  through  copper 
gauze  screening.  Iron  is  the  most  troublesome 
impurity;  if  there  is  the  tiniest  bit  of  it  in  the 
sand  it  cannot  be  used  for  making  colorless  glass. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  ground  flint-rock 
was  used  in  the  best  glass,  because  it  was  purer 
than  any  sand  they  could  then  find;  hence  the 
name  flint  glass.  Curiously  enough  this  name  is 
still  applied  to  a  variety  of  glass  which  is  ex- 
traordinarily soft  and  has  not  a  bit  of  flint  in  it, 
hard  sands  taking  its  place. 

The  mixing  of  the  ingredients  into  what  the 
glassmaker  calls  the  "batch"  is  a  process  that 
often  requires  the  services  of  an  expert  chemist, 
and  in  the  most  modern  factories  it  is  customary 
to  prepare  the  batch  according  to  the  formulas 
outlined  by  this  skilled  engineer. 

Two  types  of  melting  furnace  are  commonly 
used — the  pot  furnace  and  the  tank  furnace.  In 
the  former  the  ingredients  are  melted  in  huge 
pots  made  of  fire-clay,  arranged  in  a  circle  around 
a  central  fire,  at  the  base  of  a  large  chimney.  As 
these  pots  are  very  difficult  to  make,  and  of  un- 


180      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

certain  durability,  the  tank  furnace,  heated  by 
gas,  has  come  into  general  use.  This  type  of 
furnace  is  provided  with  a  tank  in  which  the  in- 
gredients are  melted,  and  from  which  the  molten 
mass  is  drawn.  There  are  usually  several  of  them 
in  operation  at  one  time,  and  all  are  worked 
without  interruption,  new  material  being  fed  into 
them  at  one  end  as  the  supply  of  melted  glass  is 
drawn  out  at  the  opposite  end. 

Window  glass  was  formerly  made  entirely  by 
hand  labor,  but  in  recent  years  machines  have 
been  introduced.  In  the  old  wav  there  was  a  man 

•/ 

especially  trained  for  each  part  of  the  operation. 
The  "gatherer"  dipped  a  long  iron  blowpipe  into 
the  white-hot  molten  glass.  Skillfully  twisting 
this  about  he  formed  on  the  end,  as  you  might 
twist  syrup  on  a  toothpick,  a  mass  of  the  sub- 
stance weighing  from  twenty  to  forty  pounds. 
This  ball  of  melted  glass  he  spun  round  and 
round  in  an  iron  mould  until  it  assumed  the 
shape  of  a  great  pear.  Then  he  passed  it  on  to 
the  "blower." 

The  blower,  by  a  process  of  clever  blowing 
through  the  tube,  with  now  and  then  just  the 
right  kind  of  a  circular  swing,  shaped  the  mass 
into  the  form  of  a  C}rlinder,  sometimes  as  long  as 
himself.  Allowing  it  to  cool  somewhat,  he  would 
hold  the  end  of  the  cylinder  in  the  furnace,  blow 
into  the  pipe,  and  then  cover  the  mouthpiece  with 


LITTLE  GRAINS  OF  SAND      181 

his  thumb.  The  exhaled  air,  thus  imprisoned, 
and  expanding  with  the  heat,  would  split  an 
opening  in  the  end  of  the  glass  cylinder,  which 
the  blower  would  enlarge  by  revolving  the  end 
swiftly  in  the  furnace.  As  soon  as  the  hole  was 
as  large  as  the  diameter  of  the  cylinder,  and  the 
mass  had  cooled  to  a  cherry-red  heat,  an  assistant 
would  detach  the  glass  from  the  blowpipe,  and 
the  cylinder  would  be  cracked  lengthwise  with  a 
red-hot  iron  or  a  diamond  on  a  long  handle. 

The  opened  cylinder,  with  the  split  side  up, 
was  then  placed  on  a  fire-clay  table  which  re- 
volved in  an  oven.  The  heat  soon  flattened  the 
cylinder  into  an  irregular  surface.  This  the  next 
workman,  the  "flattener,"  smoothed  out  with  a 
tool  made  of  an  iron  rod,  to  each  end  of  which 
a  block  of  wood  was  fastened.  The  smoothed 
sheet  was  next  placed  in  the  coolest  part  of  the 
furnace,  and  was  afterward  removed  to  the  cool- 
ing stone.  When  rigid  enough  to  be  moved,  it 
was  carried  to  the  annealing  chamber. 

Annealing  is  a  process  of  "tempering"  the 
glass,  or  making  it  tougher,  so  that  it  will  not 
break  readily  when  subjected  to  sudden  changes 
of  temperature.  The  glass  is  slowly  heated  until 
the  melting  point  approaches;  then  it  is  very 
slowly  cooled,  this  process  taking  place  in  a 
chamber  having  various  compartments  of  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  heat. 


182      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Plate  glass  is  the  most  expensive  form  of 
window  glass,  and  is  made  by  a  special  process. 
The  ingredients  are  melted  in  huge,  open  vessels, 
some  of  which  have  a  capacity  of  almost  three 
tons.  These  tanks  rest  upon  frames  behind  fire- 
clay doors.  When  the  melting  has  reached  the 
required  stage  the  tank  is  drawn  out  by  a  great 
fork  mounted  on  a  truck,  and  is  rolled  to  the 
casting  table.  There  it  is  hoisted  by  a  crane,  and 
the  contents  poured  in  a  fiery,  livid  stream  upon 
the  metal  table.  A  heavy  roller  spreads  out  the 
mass  evenly  to  the  desired  thickness,  whereupon 
it  is  placed  in  the  annealing  chamber  and  left 
several  days.  It  comes  out  in  the  form  of  rough 
plate  glass,  and  must  be  polished  before  it  can 
be  sold  and  used.  Polishing  is  done  by  means  of 
grinding  machines  which  rub  the  surface  with 
sand,  emery  powder,  and  rouge,  first  on  one  side 
and  then  on  the  other.  In  this  process  almost 
half  of  the  thickness  of  the  plate  is  worn  away, 
but  when  it  is  done  it  is  surely  a  beautiful  sheet 
of  glass,  clear,  as  smooth  as  smooth  can  be,  and 
sparkling  in  its  brightness.  Its  thickness  is  then 
from  one-fourth  to  three-eighths  of  an  inch. 

To  make  glass  stronger,  for  places  where  it 
is  subjected  to  jars  and  strikings,  some  rein- 
forcing medium  is  often  employed,  which  adds 
greatly  to  its  durability,  though  affecting  to  some 
extent  its  transparency.  One  of  the  most  used 


LITTLE  GRAINS  OF  SAND      183 

methods  is  to  make  the  glass  up  of  two  sections, 
with  a  wire  netting  cemented  between  when  the 
glass  sheets  are  soft  and  "tacky."  Such  glass 
may  crack  in  short  lengths  when  exposed  to  se- 
vere shocks,  but  it  cannot  fall  out  in  chunks  like 
common  glass,  and  it  is  much  employed  as  a  fire 
protection  around  elevator  shafts,  in  windows 
close  to  machinery,  and  in  basement  windows 
where  exposure  to  blows  is  always  imminent.  A 
more  recent  method  is  that  of  manufacturing  the 
glass  with  a  sheet  of  transparent  celluloid  in  its 
center.  Such  glass  is  even  stronger  than  the  wire 
screen  variety,  since  practically  every  atom  of 
the  glass  is  securely  attached  to  the  tough,  flexible 
compound  of  the  celluloid,  rendering  it  essentially 
break-proof.  This  kind  of  glass  is  now  much 
used  in  automobile  curtain  lights. 

A  large  part  of  the  ordinary  glassware  that 
you  see  in  the  stores  and  on  your  neighbor's  table 
is  made  by  pressing  into  that  shape  when  the 
glass  is  in  a  soft  condition.  The  press  consists  of 
an  iron  mould  which  contains  the  design  of  the 
object  to  be  made,  and  a  plunger  which  is  worked 
by  a  lever.  The  gatherer  sticks  his  iron  rod  into 
the  molten  glass  in  the  furnace,  and  brings  out  a 
large  lump  on  the  end  of  it.  Some  of  this  is  cut 
loose  and  forced  down  into  the  mould  by  means 
of  the  plunger.  It  rapidly  cools,  the  piece  of 
glassware  is  removed,  and  is  then  put  into  the 


184      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

annealing  furnace.  Some  articles  are  made  in 
two  parts.  In  manufacturing  a  goblet,  for  in- 
stance, the  bowl  is  shaped  in  one  press,  the  stem 
in  another,  and  the  two  parts  are  then  softened 
where  they  join,  and  connected.  A  good  deal  of 
the  more  expensive  tableware  is  made  by  blow- 
ing. In  many  factories  machines  operated  by 
compressed  air  take  the  place  of  the  human 
blower  with  his  sturdy  lungs. 

Cut  glass  is  the  most  expensive  and  ornate 
tableware  in  use.  Often  the  object  is  cast  in  a 
mould,  but  as  often  it  is  blown.  In  either  case  its 
plain  surface  is  then  marked  with  the  chosen  de- 
sign. Then  it  is  held  by  the  workman  against  a 
steel  wheel  with  a  sharp  edge.  This  wheel  whirls 
at  great  speed,  being  kept  wet  with  a  small 
stream  of  water,  mixed  with  hard  sand,  which 
assist  greatly  in  making  the  cuts  smoothly  and 
deeply,  without  burning.  It  takes  a  skilled  cut- 
ter to  follow  some  of  the  intricate  designs  found 
on  the  costliest  pieces;  but  there  are  some  men 
who  are  so  expert  at  the  wheel  that  they  can  form 
very  beautiful  patterns  as  they  work,  having  no 
guide  except  their  own  artistic  conception  and 
unerring  hand. 

After  the  design  is  cut  the  article  is  held 
against  a  wheel  of  sandstone,  which  also  has  a 
sharp  edge  around  it  in  its  middle.  This  wheel 
smooths  the  rough  edges  of  the  cuttings,  and  also 


LITTLE  GRAINS  OF  SAND      185 

runs  in  water.  Next  a  wooden  wheel,  fed  with 
pumice-stone,  gives  a  smoother  finish  and  final 
polish  to  the  article,  whose  newly  cut  crevices  are 
then  cleaned  out  by  means  of  a  delicate  brush 
made  of  spun  glass.  How  strange  that  sand,  the 
main  ingredient  of  glass,  should  be  used  to  grind 
and  cut  the  manufactured  substance,  and  that  fine 
glass  itself  should  be  found  the  best  thing  for 
giving  the  cuts  their  final  cleaning! 

In  making  a  glass  bottle  the  operator  takes  a 
mass  of  molten  glass  from  the  furnace,  swabbing 
it  around  a  long  metal  blowpipe.  In  small  shops 
he  usually  blows  through  this  tube  with  his 
mouth,  but  in  large  factories  most  of  such  work 
is  done  by  pneumatic  machinery.  When  the  mass 
of  liquid  glass  is  blown  into  a  pear-shaped  object, 
it  is  placed  in  a  red-hot  mould  the  size  and  shape 
of  the  article  to  be  made.  Here  the  blowing  is 
continued  until  the  pressure  of  the  incoming  air 
forces  the  soft  glass  into  every  little  crook  and 
cranny  of  the  mould.  It  is  then  slowly  cooled, 
and  removed  from  its  close-fitting  metal  jacket, 
which  parts  in  the  middle.  Should  there  -have 
to  be  lettering  or  a  design  of  any  kind  on  the 
bottle,  this  is  made  in  the  mould  and  is  cast  into 
the  glass  at  the  same  time  the  bottle  is  shaped. 

Glass  is  colored  by  the  oxides  of  various 
metals;  that  is,  molten  metals  which  have  had  a 
certain  amount  of  oxygen  injected  into  them 


until  a  distinct  color  results.  In  this  manner 
iron  produces  a  pale  yellow  or  a  pale  green; 
manganese  gives  us  a  pretty  pink  and  an  ame- 
thyst-violet. Copper  produces  a  deep  green  or 
deep  blue  of  great  richness,  but  by  adding  a  re- 
ducing agent  a  beautiful  ruby-red  color  is  im- 
parted to  the  glass.  'A  still  finer  ruby  glass  is 
formed  by  using  gold  in  place  of  copper  oxide. 
A  pretty  blue  is  produced  by  cobalt  oxide;  a 
milky  white  by  tin  oxide,  calcium  fluoride,  or 
bone-ash;  and  many  delicate  tints  are  formed 
by  combinations  of  the  various  coloring  sub- 
stances. 

The  exquisite  stained  glass  windows  of  many 
great  churches  are  made  up  of  numerous  pieces 
of  different-colored  glasses.  These  have  been 
cut  very  carefully  to  match  various  sections  of 
one  large  design,  and  when  fitted  together  by 
master  workmen  they  produce  an  effect  of  out- 
line and  harmony  of  color  that  is  bewitchingly 
mellow  and  beautiful,  especially  when  the  sun  or 
bright  skies  from  without  reflect  a  strong  light 
through  them.  On  cheaper  ornamental  windows 
the  colors  are  painted  on  them,  and  burned  into 
the  glass. 

During  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition, 
held  at  Chicago  in  1892,  an  exhibition  of  spun 
glass  created  wide  attention.  So  fine  were  these 
tiny  threads  of  glass  that  they  were  woven  into 


LITTLE  GRAINS  OF  SAXD      187 

cloth  from  which  a  dress  was  made  for  the  Queen 
Regent  of  Spain.  White  silk  constituted  the 
warp,  and  glass  the  woof.  The  fabric  was  woven 
on  a  hand  loom.  Such  spun  glass  is  made  by 
melting  a  glass  rod  in  the  flame  of  a  blowpipe, 
and  drawing  the  melted  thread  over  a  wheel 
which  revolves  at  a  high  rate  of  speed. 

The  iridescent  effect  seen  in  the  frost  work  on 
Christmas  cards  is  produced  by  fine  flakes  of 
glass. 

Another  interesting  use  of  glass  may  be  seen 
in  the  collection  of  "fadeless  flowers"  at  Harvard 
University.  In  this  rare  collection  there  are 
some  800  large  sprays  and  clusters,  and  over 
2,000  magnified  parts  of  flowers.  These  were 
originally  real  flowers,  but  by  some  secret  process 
of  a  German  chemist  they  have  been  coated  with 
a  very  thin  layer  of  silvery  glass,  which  not  only 
holds  them  up  into  lifelike  position  but  preserves 
them  against  all  change  in  color  or  substance. 


VIII 
LITTLE  LUMPS  OF  CLAY 

CHILDREN  know  clay  best  as  the  sub- 
stance from  which  marbles  are  made  in 
factories,  and  from  which  certain  handi- 
work is  modeled  in  the  schoolroom.  Brawny 
workmen  know  it  best  as  the  material  from  which 
brick  and  tile  are  formed.  Mothers  know  it  best 
as  the  stuff  from  which  their  pretty  china  table- 
ware and  other  articles  of  household  pottery  are 
ushered  into  the  world.  Sculptors  know  it  best 
as  the  substance  from  which  they  model  their 
first  statues  and  statuettes,  before  casting  the 
beautiful  finished  forms  in  plaster  of  paris  and 
bronze.  Farmers  know  it  best  as  a  valuable  soil 
when  properly -mixed  with  other  earths. 

Little  lumps  of  clay — how  plain,  how  common, 
how  homely ;  and  yet  how  very  valuable  to  us  all ! 

When  clay  is  dry  it  is  very  hard  and  compact. 
When  moist,  its  particles  stick  together,  and  this 
makes  it  possible  to  mould  it  into  any  form 
desired.  If  moist  clay  is  subjected  to  an  intense 
heat  it  will  bake  almost  as  hard  as  a  stone,  but 
will  crack  easily  under  a  sudden  blow. 

Clay  is  composed  of  silica  and  alumina,  and 
188 


LITTLE    LUMPS    OF    CLAY     189 

may  contain  small  quantities  of  iron,  calcium, 
magnesium,  potassium,  and  sodium.  Most  clay 
is  formed  by  the  decomposition  or  rotting  away 
of  rock  containing  feldspar.  It  varies  in  color 
from  nearly  white  to  gray,  dark  blue,  and  red, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  ground  in  which  it 
is  found.  If  it  contains  iron  it  usually  turns  red 
when  burned.  This  is  why  we  have  red  brick, 
red  tiling,  and  red  pottery  ware. 

Porcelain  clay,  or  kaolin,  is  usually  white  or 
light  gray.  Potter's  clay  and  pipe  clay  are  simi- 
lar to  kaolin,  but  not  so  pure,  and  are  used  in 
making  the  cheaper  grades  of  pottery.  Fire  clay 
will  withstand  intense  heat.  It  is  used  for  lining 
furnaces,  for  smelting  iron,  and  for  making  fire 
brick  and  crucibles.  Tripoli  and  "fuller's  earth" 
are  kinds  of  clay  which  are  easily  made  into  a  fine 
powder ;  the  former  is  sometimes  used  for  polish- 
ing purposes,  while  the  latter  is  sold  on  the  mar- 
ket, under  fanciful  names,  as  an  inflammation 
reducer  in  the  ills  of  mankind.  Clay  is  also  used 
in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  in  putting  the  glazed 
surface  on  some  kinds  of  paper,  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  paint,  for  adulterating  food,  and  for 
making  filters. 

Bricks  are  one  of  the  most  important  kind  of 
things  made  from  clay.  The  story  of  the  brick 
is  an  interesting  one.  It  carries  us  back  into  the 
days  of  the  remotest  past,  when  Egypt  was  the 


190      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

center  of  what  little  civilization  then  existed. 
According  to  the  Bible,  brick  making  was  the 
principal  task  of  the  captive  Israelites  in  Egypt. 
There  was  a  plentiful  supply  of  clay  and  sand  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  Nile,  also  water  in  the 
stream  itself  with  which  to  mix  the  substances, 
and  usually  an  intensely  hot  sun  to  bake  the 
bricks.  These  might  have  been  made  of  just  the 
water  and  sand  and  clay,  but  even  in  that  day 
the  Egyptians  had  learned  the  need  of  some 
reinforcing  medium  to  make  the  bricks  stronger ; 
so  for  some  time  they  had  been  using  straw 
mixed  in  the  compound.  When  the  captives 
clamored  for  straw,  therefore,  it  was  not  for  mak- 
ing fires  with  which  to  bake  bricks,  but  for  laying 
in  the  brick  mixture  and  weaving  it  closer 
together,  in  the  same  way  that  steel  wires  and 
rods  are  placed  in  great  concrete  walls  of  to-day, 
and  horsehair  in  plaster. 

The  Chinese  employed  bricks  for  buildings 
many  centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
Romans  introduced  the  industry  into  Britain  and 
other  conquered  territories.  At  the  present  time 
bricks  exist  in  England  which  are  stamped  with 
the  initials  of  Roman  brickmakers  who  lived 
many  centuries  ago.  A  well-built  brick  house 
will  outwear  a  wooden  one  many  times.  The 
first  brick  building  in  America  was  built  in  1633, 
on  Manhattan  Island,  from  material  imported 


from  Holland.  At  the  present  time,  wherever 
there  is  suitable  clay,  and  building  is  to  be  done, 
there  springs  up  a  brick-making  plant  to  take 
care  of  all  needs. 

The  first  thing  necessary  in  the  making  of  good 
bricks  is  a  clay  free  from  fossil  remains,  and  one 
containing  little  iron  or  lime.  If  sand  is  not 
already  present  in  the  clay  in  the  proportion  of 
one  part  of  sand  to  two  parts  of  clay,  enough 
sand  must  be  added  to  secure  this  relation.  The 
clay  and  the  sand  are  first  mixed  into  a  pliable 
mass  by  the  addition  of  water.  From  this  body 
the  bricks  may  be  moulded  by  hand,  or  they  may 
be  moulded  and  cut  by  machinery.  Machines 
which  will  make  over  100,000  bricks  a  day  are 
now  in  general  use.  From  the  trough  in  which 
the  sand  and  clay  are  mixed  the  material  is 
forced  through  tunnel-like  openings  the  size  of 
the  brick.  This  long  column  of  clay  emerges 
from  the  machine  like  meat  from  a  mincing  ma- 
chine, and  steel  wires  come  down  upon  it  and  cut 
it  into  proper  lengths,  as  you  might  clip  off 
sections  of  a  cotton  string  with  scissors,  as  fast 
as  it  could  be  unwound  from  a  ball. 

The  clay  bricks  thus  formed  drop  down  on 
endless  belts  which  carry  them  to  the  drying 
sheds.  After  the  bricks  are  dried  long  enough 
in  the  open  air  to  "set"  them,  they  are  sent  to 
kilns  to  be  hardened.  In  these  kilns  they  are  piled 


192      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

in  hollow  squares  in  such  a  way  that  the  heat  of 
a  big  fire  in  their  middle  will  penetrate  them  and 
convert  the  plastic  clay  into  a  stonelike  sub- 
stance. The  firing  takes  from  six  to  ten  days. 
During  this  period  bricks  for  ordinary  building 
purposes  are  kept  at  a  cherry-red  heat.  Others 
for  finer  purposes  are  raised  to  almost  a  white 
heat. 

A  harder  form  of  brick  is  that  used  for  paving 
purposes,  and  usually  called  "vitrified  brick." 
To  make  these  hard  enough  to  withstand  the  wear 
of  heavy  traffic,  lime  is  added  to  the  clay  and 
sand.  During  the  burning  process,  the  lime 
fuses  and  renders  the  bricks  extremely  firm  and 
durable.  "Facing  bricks"  are  those  which  occupy 
exposed  and  prominent  positions.  They  are 
more  elaborately  finished,  more  uniform  in  color, 
and  are  sometimes  glazed  by  a  special  process  in 
which  salt  is  thrown  on  the  flames,  while  the 
article  to  be  enameled  receives  a  coating  of  the 
burned  salt. 

Tiles  and  pipes,  baked  in  the  same  way  as 
bricks,  are  extensively  used  for  drainage  pur- 
poses. These  are  usually  formed  in  moulds,  the 
clay  being  rammed  in  by  a  plunger.  When  fairly 
dry  they  are  removed  from  the  mould,  and  later 
go  to  the  kilns  for  final  burning. 

Another  substance  which  is  made  of  almost  the 
same  materials  as  brick  is  terra  cotta.  To  make 


LITTLE    LUMPS    OF    CLAY     193 

this,  fire  brick,  bits  of  pottery,  partly  burned 
clay,  and  fine  white  sand,  are  ground  to  powder 
and  mixed  very  thoroughly.  This  mixture  is 
moulded,  dried,  and  burned.  Until  recently  all 
terra  cotta  was  of  a  yellowish  brown  color,  but 
now  it  is  made  in  gray,  white,  and  bronze,  as 
well.  Terra  cotta  is  an  ornamental  form  of 
brick,  and  goes  a  long  way  in  beautifying  a 
dwelling  or  business  structure.  It  is  usually 
used  as  a  veneer,  or  outside  facing,  to  walls,  etc., 
covering  much  coarser  and  cheaper  materials. 

One  of  the  fine  arts  handed  down  through  the 
centuries  is  that  of  making  vessels  of  clay.  To 
this  art  is  applied  the  name  ceramic,  derived  from 
a  Greek  word  meaning  pottery.  Clay  containing 
the  right  amount  of  moisture  can  readily  be 
worked  into  a  plastic  state  which  will  admit  of 
its  being  fashioned  into  almost  any  shape  desired. 
When  dried  the  clay  becomes  hard  and  firm; 
when  subjected  to  intense  heat  it  becomes  still 
harder. 

The  simplest  forms  of  pottery  can  be  made 
with  a  few  crude  tools.  Therefore,  primitive 
peoples  have  always  attained  a  good  degree  of 
skill  in  making  earthen  dishes.  Some  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  the  ability  of  these  persons 
are  found  in  the  examples  of  Indian  pottery  dis- 
covered in  the  pueblos  in  the  southwestern  part 
of  the  United  States.  Even  the  descendants  of 


194      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

these  peoples  produce,  by  fine  skill  of  the  hand, 
wares  of  the  most  exquisite  beauty  of  pattern. 

The  first  step  in  the  making  of  pottery  starts 
with  the  preparation  of  the  material.  Clay  of 
various  grades  is  used.  Before  grinding,  any 
hard  substances,  such  as  pebbles  and  bits  of  rock, 
are  separated  from  the  clay.  During  the  grind- 
ing, proportions  of  fine  sand,  feldspar,  or  flint, 
may  be  added.  The  proportions  of  these  ingredi- 
ents determine  the  sort  of  ware  to  be  made. 

Vessels  are  fashioned  in  moulds,  sometimes  by 
hand,  and  sometimes  with  the  aid  of  machinery. 
The  potter  takes  enough  clay  for  the  vessel  he  is 
to  make,  and  throws  it  on  the  center  of  a  hori- 
zontal disc  called  the  potters'  wheel.  Sometimes 
this  is  turned  by  hand,  sometimes  by  foot  like  a 
bicycle,  and  sometimes  by  steam,  or  electric 
power.  In  either  case  the  speed  of  the  wheel  is 
easily  regulated.  With  moist  hands  the  work- 
man punches  and  scrapes  at  the  soft  vessel  as  it 
whirls  round  and  round  before  him  on  the  wheel. 
If  a  hollow  vessel  is  desired  he  fashions  the  clay 
into  a  cone,  then  presses  upon  the  apex  with  his 
thumbs,  till  gradually  the  revolving  lump  of  clay 
is  brought  out  magically,  right  before  our  own 
eyes,  into  the  most  beautiful,  symmetrical  speci- 
men of  pottery.  The  finishing  touches  are  put 
on  with  tools  of  wood  and  leather ;  then  the  vessel 
is  placed  in  the  drying-room  to  harden. 


LITTLE    LUMPS    OF    CLAY     195 

At  the  present  time  revolving  moulds,  called 
"jiggers,"  are  used  in  practically  all  large  manu- 
factories, and  they  greatly  increase  the  output. 
Plates  and  saucers  are  made  by  placing  the 
mould  for  the  upper  side  of  the  article  on  the 
wheel;  then  pressing  the  clay  down  on  it,  next 
laying  over  the  clay  the  mould  which  forms  the 
bottom,  the  moulds  being  so  adjusted  that  a 
uniform  thickness  is  secured  for  each  plate. 

Vases  and  many  other  hollow  vessels  of  fine 
ware  are  now  made  in  moulds  of  plaster  of  paris, 
applied  in  sections  so  they  can  be  easily  taken 
apart.  This  is  the  casting  method.  The  mould 
is  filled  with  a  thin  mixture  of  water  and  clay, 
and  allowed  to  stand  until  a  layer  of  clay  is 
deposited  on  the  sides,  when  the  mixture  is  poured 
out.  The  porous  plaster  of  paris  absorbs  the 
water,  leaving  the  shell  of  clay.  When  this  has 
sufficiently  hardened  the  mould  is  taken  apart. 
The  most  delicate  wares  are  made  by  casting. 

If  you  should  mould  something  in  clay,  and  let 
it  harden  in  a  natural  way,  you  would  find  that 
it  will  again  absorb  moisture — perhaps  at  a  time 
when  that  is  the  last  thing  you  wish  it  to  do ;  for 
moisture  causes  the  vessel  to  become  soft  and 
weak  again.  So  to  prevent  this  reabsorption  of 
moisture  the  manufacturers  heat  their  products 
to  a  high  temperature  in  a  great  oven  called  a 
"segar."  A  number  of  these  ovens  are  stacked 


196      SECKETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

in  a  kiln,  one  above  the  other.  The  "firing,"  as 
it  is  called,  lasts  from  thirty-six  to  forty-two 
hours,  during  which  the  ware  is  so  hot  that  it 
looks  almost  white.  Before  it  is  removed  from 
the  oven  it  is  allowed  to  cool  slowly  by  a  gradual 
shutting  off  of  the  heat.  When  it  is  removed  it 
is  called  "biscuit." 

This  process  has  hardened  the  clay  vessel  to  a 
surprising  extent,  but  the  surface  is  still  com- 
paratively rough,  and  has  many  tiny  pores  in  it 
which  do  not  look  well  and  which  would  prove 
unsanitary  lodging  places  for  food  particles 
should  the  dishes  be  so  used.  To  fill  these  pores, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  apply  a  smooth,  glossy 
surface  to  the  dish,  which  will  make  it  easier  to 
wash  and  keep  clean,  a  coating  called  "glaze"  is 
put  on.  For  glazing  various  substances  are 
employed,  including  lead  oxide  or  litharge,  pow- 
dered feldspar,  flint,  white  clay,  paris-white,  and 
other  substances.  The  glaze  compound  is  ground 
to  a  very  fine  powder,  then  mixed  with  water.  At 
this  stage  it  is  known  as  "slip,"  and  is  about  the 
thickness  of  cream. 

If  you  were  to  watch  the  workman  you  would 
see  him  dip  each  article  in  the  big  tank  of  slip, 
then  set  it  aside,  next  to  many  others,  to  dry. 
Here,  in  the  course  of  a  short  time,  the  water  in 
the  slip  evaporates,  causing  the  coating  to  thicken 
and  harden.  To  hasten  this  hardening  process, 


LITTLE    LUMPS    OF    CLAY     197 

and  make  the  finish  as  glossy  as  possible,  the  ware 
is  next  put  in  a  firing  kiln  for  the  second  time  in 
its  brief  history.  At  first  the  kiln  is  not  very  hot, 
but  gradually  the  operator  increases  the  tem- 
perature. At  its  highest  point  he  lets  it  stand  a 
while;  then  as  slowly  as  before,  he  begins  to 
decrease  the  heat,  the  ware  cooling  by  degrees. 
Sudden  changes  in  temperature  would  crack  and 
blister  the  film.  The  firing  changes  the  glaze  to 
a  beautiful  transparent  gloss  which  brings  out 
clearly  any  figures  which  may  have  been  placed 
on  the  ware  proper. 

Some  of  the  very  prettiest  pottery  owes  its 
appeal  to  its  splendid  color  effects.  These  colors 
are  not  in  the  clay  itself,  but  are  mixed  in  the 
glazes.  One  part  of  an  urn  or  vase  may  be  dipped 
in  a  glaze  of  one  color,  and  another  part  of  the 
ware  dipped  in  a  glaze  of  another  color.  And 
sometimes  the  glaze  is  poured  on  in  an  oven,  and 
the  flow  stopped  by  heat,  which  produces  the 
most  bewitching  shaded  effects. 

Designs  and  decorations  are  put  on  with 
brushes  by  hand,  either  before  or  after  glazing. 
If  put  on  afterward  a  third  firing  is  necessary, 
in  order  to  set  them  and  make  them  lasting. 
Glazing  is  usually  the  finishing  operation,  and 
when  the  ware  comes  from  the  glazing  kiln  it  is 
ready  to  be  packed  and  sent  off  to  the  stores  for 
public  use. 


198      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

Pottery  making  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  arts. 
Scientific  men  of  to-day  who  have  dug  up  buried 
cities  in  the  Old  World,  have  probably  learned 
more  about  the  degree  of  civilization  of  the 
former  inhabitants  through  specimens  of  ancient 
pottery  than  by  any  other  single  clue;  for  there 
is  practically  no  decay  to  good  earthenware  ves- 
sels. The  early  Egyptians,  Assyrians,  and 
Babylonians  were  very  expert  in  making  pot- 
tery, as  were  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  who  fol- 
lowed in  the  art.  The  Chinese  and  Japanese  are 
famed  for  the  delicacy  of  their  clay  products. 
Ware  from  Holland,  France,  and  Great  Britain 
is  much  prized  for  its  pattern  and  durability. 

In  the  United  States  no  attempt  was  made  to 
manufacture  pottery  on  a  large  scale  until 
1825.  Since  then  the  industry  has  steadily 
increased  until  now  the  yearly  output  is  close  to 
$35,000,000,  and  our  wares  compare  well  with 
the  best. 


XIV 


IF  you  wish  to  know  what  an  important  thing 
salt  is  in  the  world,  you  can  quickly  convince 
yourself  by  the  very  simple  test  of  asking 
your  mother  to  put  no  salt  in  any  of  the  food 
she  cooks  for  you  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  and  also 
place  none  on  the  table  for  you  to  use.  You 
really  can  not  understand  fully  just  how  taste- 
less and  wretchedly  flat  your  food  will  seem  until 
you  have  gone  through  this  experiment,  and  you 
will  straightway  thank  your  lucky  stars  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  salt,  and  make  up  your  mind 
to  appreciate  it  for  its  full  worth  in  the  future. 
Of  course  we  do  not  know  exactly,  but  it  is 
extremely  doubtful  that  we  could  live  long  if 
there  were  no  little  grains  of  salt.  Scientists  tell 
us  that  without  salt  we  would  care  very  little 
about  food,  and  it  would  actually  have  very  lit- 
tle man-building  energy  in  it  for  us  besides.  We 
would  soon  grow  thin,  our  smooth  bodies  would 
become  harsh  of  skin  and  covered  with  scurvy, 
and  our  faces  and  limbs  would  turn  a  repulsive 
sallow  color.  Without  salt  we  could  not  have  the 
preserved  meats  and  fishes  which  the  markets 

199 


200      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

sell  us.  It  would  be  missed  in  the  manufacture 
of  soda  ash,  sodium  carbonate,  and  caustic  soda. 
Soap  manufacturers  would  wonder  what  to  use 
for  hardening  their  toilet  soaps;  potters  would  be 
in  a  quandary  to  find  a  substitute  for  glazing 
their  coarser  wares;  glassmakers  would  have  a 
merry  time  to  find  something  as  good  for  im- 
proving the  clearness  of  some  of  their  glass. 
Farmers  would  miss  it  sorely,  because  it  has 
proven  a  first-class  fertilizer,  attracting  and 
holding  moisture,  and  setting  free  the  inert  plant 
life  in  the  soil.  They  would  also  miss  it  as  an 
essential  food-tonic  for  their  cattle.  And  what 
a  sad  fix  wild  animals  would  be  in  without  it! 
for  all  such  yearn  for  salt  as  we  yearn  for  drink- 
ing water,  and  travel  great  distances  in  order  to 
find  a  salty  spring  from  which  to  lap,  or  a  "salt 
lick"  upon  which  to  scrub  their  tongues. 

When  cereal  and  vegetable  foods  began  to  be 
used  by  people,  many  centuries  ago,  salt  became 
a  necessity.  But  in  those  days  it  was  very  diffi- 
cult to  obtain,  as  everybody  thought  the  salty 
spots  on  the  surface  were  the  only  places  to  get 
it,  and  that  these  springs  were  special  gifts  from 
the  gods.  They  never  dreamed  of  securing  it 
from  the  ocean,  or  digging  down  into  the  earth 
after  it,  where  it  lay  in  some  sections  in  large 
quantities.  So  few  were  the  salt  springs  that  the 
ancient  Roman  historians  tell  us  the  German 


I 


©  Underwood  and   Underwood 

BLASTING    IN    A   SALT    MINE 


"SALT    OF    THE    EARTH"       201 

tribes  fought  fiercely  for  the  possession  of  them. 

Salt  was  used  by  the  early  Hebrews  and  other 
Semitic  peoples,  and  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
in  their  offerings.  By  them  it  was  undoubtedly 
regarded  as  a  symbol  of  purity  and  faith.  The 
"covenant  of  salt,"  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament,  was  one  which  could  not  be  broken, 
as  salt  stood  for  things  everlasting.  Christ  spoke 
of  his  disciples  as  "the  salt  of  the  earth"  when  he 
referred  to  their  spiritual  influence  in  the  world. 

Among  the  Orientals  of  the  present  day,  as 
well  as  the  past,  salt  used  at  a  meal  is  representa- 
tive of  friendship  and  hospitality ;  hence  the  Arab 
phrases,  "there  is  salt  between  us,"  signifying 
friendship;  "to  eat  of  a  man's  salt,"  or  to  par- 
take of  his  hospitality;  "to  sit  above  the  salt,"  or 
in  the  place  of  distinction.  In  Persia  a  man  who 
is  said  to  be  "untrue  to  salt"  is  accused  of  dis- 
loyalty. 

Salt  and  incense  were  of  vast  importance  in 
developing  the  ancient  highways  of  commerce. 
The  salt  of  Palmyra  and  Tadmore  built  up  the 
extensive  trade  between  the  Syrian  ports  and  the 
Persian  Gulf;  the  great  Salt  mines  of  northern 
India  were  the  center  of  a  wide  trade  before  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great;  a  caravan  route 
united  the  salt  oases  of  the  Libyan  desert;  and  to 
the  present  day  the  traffic  in  salt  forms  a  large 
part  of  the  caravan  trade  of  the  Sahara.  One 


202      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

of  Italy's  oldest  roads,  the  Via  Solaria,  is  the 
route  by  which  the  salt  of  Ostia  was  carried  up 
into  the  Sabine  country. 

Cakes  of  salt  were  anciently  used  as  money  in 
parts  of  Abyssinia  and  Tibet,  and  salt  taxes 
existed  both  in  ancient  and  medieval  times. 

Fortunately  for  the  world  there  are  few  things 
more  generally  found  or  cheaper,  to-day,  than 
salt.  The  ocean,  which  occupies  approximately 
three-fourths  of  the  surface  of  the  globe,  holds 
inconceivable  quantities  of  the  valuable  saline 
mineral.  This  has  been  carried,  in  part,  into  the 
seas  by  the  rivers  which  empty  into  them,  and 
the  rivers  have  absorbed  it  from  the  salt  deposits 
that  exist  here  and  there  in  the  earth's  surface. 
The  remainder  of  the  ocean's  salt  is  absorbed 
from  beds  of  the  substance  on  the  oceans'  own 
floors. 

On  land,  underground  and  surface  deposits  of 
salt  alike  are  found  the  world  over,  and  some 
great  inland  bodies  of  water  are  saturated  with 
this  simple  substance,  which  they  are  ready  to 
yield  at  the  demand  of  the  salt-gatherer.  There 
are  not  many  such  inland  salt  lakes,  but  the  three 
or  four  which  do  exist  are  quite  remarkable  as 
compared  with  ordinary  fresh-water  bodies. 
Here  in  the  United  States  we  have  one  of  these 
in  Great  Salt  Lake,  in  Utah,  which  every  year 
is  a  source  of  keen  interest  and  wonder  to  thou- 


"SALT   OF    THE    EARTH"       203 

sands  of  tourists.  This  remarkable  body  of 
water  stands  at  the  head  of  its  kind  in  this  coun- 
try for  its  great  salt  density,  having  more  than 
twelve  per  cent  of  pure  salinity.  So  heavy  with 
salt  is  it  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  person 
to  swim  far;  but  how  easy  it  is  to  float!  Just 
stretch  yourself  out  and  lie  on  your  back,  serene 
and  confident,  and  you  will  float  like  a  chip.  If 
you  could  attach  a  sail  to  yourself  you  could  be 
your  own  sailboat,  and  go  skidding  about  with- 
out the  least  effort  on  the  part  of  hand  or  foot. 
When  you  come  out  and  let  the  sun  dry  you  off, 
the  evaporating  water  on  your  body  will  leave 
little  grains  of  salt  as  a  memento  of  your  strange 
experience.  No  one  could  sink  in  Great  Salt 
Lake  if  he  wished  to  ever  and  ever  so  hard. 
Everybody  is  safe  from  drowning. 

The  Dead  Sea,  in  Asia,  is  recognized  as  the 
most  fully  impregnated  with  salts  of  all  the 
bodies  of  water  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  More 
than  one-fourth  of  its  bulk  is  salt.  But  chloride 
of  sodium — the  chemist's  name  for  common  salt 
— is  not  the  dominant  salt,  chloride  of  magnesium 
forming  more  than  sixteen  per  cent  of  the  salty 
content.  The  Caspian  Sea,  the  largest  land- 
locked body  of  water  known,  and  Lake  Balkash, 
and  the  Sea  of  Aral,  are  other  salt  lakes  of  Asia, 
all  notable  for  their  strong  saline  quality. 

At  one  time  almost  all  the  common  salt  of 


204      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

commerce  was  produced  by  gathering  and  evap- 
orating the  salty  waters  of  the  inland  lakes  we 
have  named  and  those  of  the  great  oceans.  The 
fact  is,  considerable  quantities  of  salt  are  still 
obtained  in  this  way  from  San  Francisco  Bay, 
Great  Salt  Lake,  and  the  waters  along  the  sea- 
board countries  of  Southern  Europe.  Since  there 
are  about  three-eighths  of  a  pound  of  salt  in  each 
gallon  of  sea  water,  it  has  been  estimated  that,  if 
the  Pacific  Ocean  were  to  dry  up,  or  be  gathered 
and  boiled  up  in  great  kettles,  it  would  yield  close 
to  4,419,000  cubic  miles  of  solid  salt.  If  this  were 
spread  out  one  mile  deep  it  would  more  than 
cover  the  entire  continent  of  Europe. 

Salt  is  obtained  in  ways  that  differ  as  widely 
as  do  the  localities  where  it  is  found.  Perhaps 
the  most  picturesque  and  interesting  of  all  the 
salt-gathering  industries  is  found  in  our  own 
country. 

Away  down  in  Southern  California,  in  the 
middle  of  the  Colorado  desert,  about  one  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  ocean  and  eighty  miles  from 
the  Mexican  boundary  line,  is  the  little  station 
of  Salton,  on  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad.  It 
lies  between  the  San  Bernardino  and  the  San 
Jacinto  ranges  of  mountains.  Here  the  valley 
sinks  to  a  level  more  than  four  hundred  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  sea,  making  it  the  most 
depressed  spot  in  the  United  States.  Should 


"SALT    OF    THE    EARTH"       205 

these  mountains  and  the  surrounding  country 
settle  a  little  by  a  movement  of  the  earth's  crust, 
which  may  happen  any  day,  the  Pacific  Ocean 
will  flow  over  and  fill  in  this  strange  valley,  mak- 
ing it  once  more  its  own,  as  it  undoubtedly  at 
one  time  was  a  part  of  this  great  body,  for  it  has 
been  comparatively  recently  cut  off  from  the 
ocean  by  the  delta  of  the  Colorado  River. 

In  this  remarkable  depression,  and  only  a  short 
distance  to  the  south  of  Salton,  is  a  field  of  crys- 
tallized salt  more  than  a  thousand  acres  in  extent. 
When  the  sun  shines  on  this  great  crust  of  white, 
it  scintillates  like  a  world  of  diamonds,  fairly 
blinding  the  eyes  of  those  not  used  to  the  sight. 
The  field  is  growing  constantly,  for  all  around 
it  numerous  salt  springs  are  flowing  down  from 
the  surrounding  hills,  draining  into  the  basin, 
where  they  rapidly  evaporate,  leaving  fresh 
deposits  of  almost  pure  salt.  This  film  of  white 
covers  the  entire  area  like  the  frosted  crust  of  a 
gigantic  cake,  and  it  is  all  the  way  from  ten  to 
twenty  inches  thick. 

The  Salton  field  is  worked  by  a  company  of 
men  who  own  the  tract  and  employ  a  number  of 
laborers  to  gather  the  salt  for  the  market  in  a 
very  unique  manner  indeed.  First  the  crust  is 
plowed  by  a  heavy  steel  share  which  makes  a 
broad  and  shallow  furrow,  one  following  another, 
leaving  high  ridges  of  the  plowed-up  material 


206      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

between,  as  a  farmer  plows  his  ground.  The 
plow  is  not  pulled  by  horses,  however,  but  by  a 
sturdy  little  locomotive,  which  runs  on  two  tracks 
at  right  angles  to  the  furrows,  and  which  pulls 
the  plow  along  by  means  of  two  steel  cables 
running  through  pulleys  just  behind  the  engine. 

As  the  plowshare  cuts  into  the  salt,  brine  from 
the  springs  oozes  up  into  the  furrows.  Laborers 
with  hoes  follow  after  the  plow,  work  out  the 
earthen  particles  in  the  salt  by  chucking  it  in  the 
water,  and  stack  up  the  clean  white  crystals  in 
conical  heaps.  These  men  are  Coahuila  Indians, 
the  only  ones  who  can  be  hired  to  do  the  trying 
work,  as  the  temperature  is  140  degrees  on  the 
average,  and  furthermore,  dark  glasses  must  be 
worn  to  protect  the  eyes  against  the  almost 
intolerable  glare  of  the  white  field.  The  air, 
laden  with  impalpable  tiny  particles  of  salt, 
creates  an  intense,  burning  thirst  which  the  work- 
men find  it  impossible  to  satisfy  with  the  luke- 
warm, alkaline  water  of  the  artesian  well,  900 
feet  deep,  their  only  supply  of  drinking  water. 

When  the  mounds  of  salt  in  the  field  are  well 
dried  out  by  the  hot  California  sun,  broad-tired 
wagons  carry  the  salt  to  flat-cars  which,  in  turn, 
transport  it  to  the  mill  in  Salton.  Here  it  passes 
through  grinders  which  crush  it  up  into  a  uniform 
powder.  It  is  then  sifted  and  sewed  up  into  sacks 
by  Japanese  workmen. 


"SALT    OF    THE    EARTH"       207 

Out  of  this  field  of  1,000  acres  of  virgin  salt, 
not  more  than  ten  acres  are  worked  at  this  time. 
Yet  from  such  a  small  portion  about  700  tons 
can  be  plowed  and  shipped  every  day.  As  fast 
as  the  crust  is  removed  a  new  one  forms.  Thus 
the  supply  seems  practically  inexhaustible. 

Under  certain  atmospheric  conditions  this  salt 
field  displays  remarkably  perfect  examples  of  the 
phenomenon  known  as  the  mirage.  Beautiful 
flowering  fields,  crystal-like  lakes  with  wooded 
shores,  and  even  towering  cities  and  pretty  cathe- 
drals and  castles,  appear  in  most  deceptive  form. 

The  greater  part  of  the  world's  salt,  however, 
is  produced  from  what  is  known  as  "rock  salt," 
that  is,  salt  which  has  been  obtained  by  going 
down  into  the  earth  after  it,  either  by  means  of 
wells  or  mines.  The  well  method  is  the  easier 
one  of  the  two.  Here  holes  are  drilled  far  down 
until  the  salt  is  struck,  much  the  same  as  in  mak- 
ing an  artesian  well.  The  hole  is  cased  by  piping, 
and  water  is  often  pumped  in  to  dissolve  the  salt 
just  below  the  pipe  end.  Once  dissolved  and  in 
the  form  of  a  brine,  steam  pumps  suck  it  up 
through  the  pipe.  It  is  then  put  in  great  kettles 
and  evaporated  by  fires  underneath,  or  it  is 
placed  in  large  vats  out  in  the  open  air,  where 
the  winds  and  sun  dry  up  the  water,  in  a  some- 
what slower  but  less  expensive  manner,  and  leave 
the  clear  salt  remaining.  Most  of  the  rock-salt 


208      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

in  the  United  States — even  in  Michigan,  which  is 
the  greatest  home  producer — is  secured  in  this 
manner. 

England  is  the  chief  salt-producing  country. 
Her  counties  of  Cheshire,  Staffordshire,  and 
Worcestershire,  are  noted  for  their  fine  saline 
deposits,  especially.  Droitwich,  in  Cheshire,  has 
been  celebrated  for  its  "wyches,"  or  salt  springs, 
ever  since  the  Roman  occupation,  and  the  word 
salary  (latin,  solarium)  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
salt  was  once  made  a  part  of  the  Roman  soldier's 

Pay- 
Salt  has  been  made  in  England  from  natural 

brine  springs  for  centuries,  but  the  mining  of  the 
rock-salt  deposits,  through  which  water  must 
flow  in  order  to  become  salty,  is  a  comparatively 
modern  industry  there.  The  splendid  Cheshire 
beds  were  discovered  in  1670  by  men  boring  for 
coal,  and  have  been  mined  ever  since.  The  salt 
is  so  hard  sometimes  that  it  has  to  be  blasted  with 
gunpowder.  It  is  curious,  but  coal,  oil,  and 
natural  gas,  are  often  found  close  to  salt.  In 
China  there  is  a  remarkable  salt  spring  from 
which  sufficient  natural  gas  escapes  to  provide  a 
fuel  for  evaporating  the  brine. 

Vast  as  are  the  English  deposits,  those  found 
at  Wieliczka,  in  Galicia,  Austria,  are  a  close  sec- 
ond in  productiveness,  and  really  superior  in  the 
way  of  extent.  The  remarkable  formation  and 


"SALT    OF    THE    EARTH"       209 

capaciousness  of  these  workings  make  them  the 
most  famous  in  the  world. 

Just  imagine,  if  you  can,  a  region  under  your 
feet  where  there  is  a  solid  mass  of  salt  measuring 
500  miles  in  length,  20  miles  in  breadth,  and  1,200 
feet  in  thickness!  For  nearly  eight  hundred 
years  men  have  been  hacking  away  at  this  im- 
mense bed  of  salt,  and  although  their  labors  have 
left  a  veritable  underground  city,  they  have  made 
only  a  comparatively  wee,  wee  hole  in  the 
enormous  bulk  of  white  which  constitutes  the 
"ground"  in  that  vicinity. 

In  a  coal,  iron,  silver,  lead,  copper,  or  mercury 
mine,  you  may  see  many  strange  and  curious 
sights ;  but  none  can  compare  with  the  wonderful 
sensations  you  will  experience  when  you  visit  the 
underground  salt  city  at  Wieliczka.  It  is  one  of 
the  "show-places"  of  Europe,  owned  by  the  Aus- 
trian government,  and  is  often  visited  by  official 
heads.  From  the  very  beginning  these  salt  work- 
ers seemed  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  just  as 
easy  to  form  a  pretty  chamber  in  their  mine  as  an 
ugly  one,  while  they  went  about  their  task  of 
gleaning  the  milk-white  crystals.  Anyhow, 
instead  of  merely  digging  for  the  sake  of  dig- 
ging, like  miners  else\vhere,  they  formed  their 
chambers  and  aisles  and  slopes  into  the  most 
entrancing  architectural  effects.  And  with  such 
an  eye-intoxicating,  soul-stirring  substance  as 


210      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

this  beautiful  snow-like  salt  to  work  in,  no  won- 
der that,  as  their  labors  grew,  they  became  proud 
and  enthusiastic,  and  that  the  public  at  large 
opened  their  mouths  and  stared  in  delighted 
wonder. 

Thus  day  by  day,  week  by  week,  month 
by  month,  year  by  year,  decade  by  decade,  cen- 
tury by  century,  from  a  single  pretty  chamber 
this  strange  mine  of  Wieliczka  has  developed 
into  a  regular  city  of  beautiful  booths  and  vaults, 
arcades,  amphitheaters,  parks,  boulevards  and 
winding  avenues,  arches  and  bridges  and  bal- 
conies and  stairways,  all  embellished  with  crystal- 
white  statuary,  shrubbery,  and  other  forms  of 
decorative  art.  Young  miners  have  grown  old, 
with  frosted  hair  and  beards,  in  this  ambitious 
work  of  creation.  Aye,  they  have  died  in  the 
harness,  as  white  as  the  crystals  about  them,  while 
sons  and  grandsons  took  up  the  tasks  they  had 
laid  down.  And  all  so  that  you  and  I  may  wit- 
ness what  man  can  do  while  engaged  in  a  homely 
commercial  enterprise. 

As  we  go  down  into  this  rare  underground 
city,  where  electric  lights  and  candles  cause 
prismatic  hues  of  sparkling  light  to  radiate  from 
countless  tiny  facets  of  salt  crystals  all  about 
us,  we  are  struck  speechless  with  awe  and  ad- 
miration. We  go  through  and  pass  silent 
chapels  that  speak  eloquently  of  angels  and 


"SALT    OF    THE    EARTH"       211 

heaven  and  other  pure  things,  then  across  an 
altar,  into  a  dazzling  ball-room,  around  graceful 
pillars,  and  by  richly  garnished  throne — all 
hewn  from  the  solid  salt-rock.  Salt  staircases 
lead  us  from  one  floor  to  another,  from  balcony 
to  street  level,  from  marvel  to  amazement. 
Chandeliers  of  the  same  sparkling  white  sub- 
stance hang  from  ceilings  here  and  there.  What 
statesman  is  this,  standing  in  statuesque  ermine, 
just  at  our  right  elbow?  God's  cleanest  snows 
could  not  be  more  white  than  that  splendid  horse, 
with  alert  ears  and  majestically  held  head,  over 
by  the  wall  yonder.  Let  us  sit  down  in  this  fine 
salt  chair  for  a  little  rest,  and  look  around  a  bit. 
Everywhere  is  salt,  everywhere  is  sparkle.  But 
the  salt  does  not  seem  to  be  salt.  It  is  too  beauti- 
ful, too  throbbing  of  life,  too  unusual  of  shape, 
to  be  salt.  Surely,  we  think,  it  must  be  the 
"earth"  of  which  all  fairyland  is  made;  and  this 
about  us  is  that  fairyland ! 

Altogether  the  mines  have  a  length  close  to 
three  miles  along  the  bed,  and  there  are  eight 
levels.  In  the  topmost  three  are  the  sights  which 
tourists  delight  in  viewing;  the  levels  below  are 
for  "business  only."  Many  of  the  horses  used  in 
transporting  the  salt  to  the  shaft  are  born  under- 
ground, and  have  never  seen  daylight.  These  ani- 
mals are  practically  blind,  but  have,  by  instinct  or 
development,  a  wonderful  sense  of  location. 


212      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

About  a  thousand  miners  work  at  Wieliczka. 
They  exercise  such  care  in  making  their  excava- 
tions that  accidents  are  very  rare,  although  in  the 
history  of  the  mines  some  terrible  disasters  are 
recorded  which  have  resulted  from  fire  or  the 
flooding  of  the  mine  by  a  subterranean  lake.  On 
account  of  the  whiteness  of  everything  around, 
the  galleries  are  much  better  illuminated  than  the 
average  coal  mine.  The  air,  too,  is  kept  very 
pure  by  its  contact  with  the  salt,  so  that  both  men 
and  animals  enjoy  good  health.  At  the  end  of 
the  day  the  miners  ascend  to  the  surface  in  "lifts," 
or  elevators,  and  when  all  are  up  the  shafts  are 
closed  and  locked. 

You  would  hardly  think  that  salt  is  a  com- 
modity worth  stealing,  or  that  the  owners  would 
object  if  a  miner  did  take  away  from  such  a  vast 
storehouse  a  few  meager  pinches  of  it.  But  in 
that  country  salt  is  a  taxable  commodity,  and  it 
appears  that  at  one  time  so  much  of  it  was  smug- 
gled out  in  miners'  boots  and  pockets  that  every 
man  was  thereafter  searched  when  leaving  work, 
just  as  though  he  were  an  employe  of  a  gold  or 
diamond  mine.  The  practice  is  still  continued, 
although  in  a  perfunctory  way,  as  the  miners  are 
now  too  well  paid  to  be  tempted  to  augment  their 
income  by  theft. 

Near  the  entrance  of  this  famous  mine  stands 
a  block  of  buildings — the  offices  of  the  manager. 


"SALT    OF    THE    EARTH"       213 

Here  visitors  are  first  received,  provided  with  a 
guide,  and  asked  to  pull  on  a  pair  of  overalls  to 
protect  their  good  clothes  while  exploring  the 
subterranean  passages.  The  outfits  worn  by 
Royalty,  as  may  be  expected,  are  of  a  superior 
character,  and  each  time  they  are  worn  are  care- 
fully labeled  with  the  name  of  the  wearer  and 
the  date  of  the  visit. 

You  can  descend  in  two  ways — by  a  hydraulic 
cage,  or  by  a  staircase  hewn  out  of  solid  salt. 
When  you  begin  to  get  into  the  real  levels  of  the 
mine  there  bursts  upon  your  view  a  little  world 
of  such  fantastic  ermine  beauty  that  you  are  quite 
sure,  for  a  few  moments,  you  are  either  dreaming 
or  gazing  upon  the  work  of  genii  and  fairies. 
You  behold  a  spacious  plain  containing  a  strange 
little  whitewashed  city,  with  houses  and  roads,  all 
scooped  out  of  one  vast  mass  of  salt  rock.  It  is, 
everywhere,  as  bright  and  glittering  as  crystal, 
while  the  blaze  of  lights  continually  burning  is 
reflected  from  the  dazzling  columns  which  sup- 
port the  lofty  arched  vaults  of  the  mine,  in  a 
manner  most  bewitching.  These  arched  ceilings 
are  tinged  with  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  and 
sparkle  with  all  the  luster  and  richness  of 
precious  stones.  Your  guide,  from  time  to  time, 
as  you  go  along,  manipulates  the  numerous  lights 
to  give  you  the  best  effects.  For  the  highest  fig- 
ures, all  the  electric  lamps  and  candles  in  the 


214      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

vicinity  are  lighted.  To  show  the  remote  corners, 
fireworks  in  the  form  of  colored  flares  and  rockets 
are  utilized. 

The  first  level  is  216  feet  below  the  surface.  It 
contains  the  famous  Letow  Ballroom,  which  was 
excavated  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 
Here  many  festive  gatherings,  presided  over  by 
the  Emperor,  have  been  held.  At  one  end  of  the 
room  is  a  colossal  Austrian  eagle,  with  transpar- 
encies painted  on  slabs  of  salt.  In  an  alcove  at 
the  other  end  of  the  apartment  stands  a  throne 
of  green,  the  crystals  of  which  flash  out  rays  of 
fweird  green  and  ruby-red.  It  is  on  this  throne 
that  the  Emperor  has  always  sat  when  he  visited 
the  mines. 

Close  by  is  St.  Anthony's  Chapel.  Even  older 
than  the  Ballroom,  this  ornate  chamber  dates 
back  to  1698.  It  may  be  considered  the  religious 
center  of  the  queer  underground  city.  Legends 
say  that  it  is  the  work  of  a  single  miner.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  one  thing  is  sure:  it  was  an  artist  as 
well  as  an  indefatigable  worker  who  conceived 
and  wrought  that  beautiful  interior.  The  walls 
and  altar  are  embellished  with  many  fine  carv- 
ings, all  executed  in  salt.  The  character  of  these 
blends  in  spirituously  with  the  snow-like  tone  of 
the  whole  apartment,  giving  you  a  peculiar,  sweet 
sense  of  rest  under  the  subdued  artificial  lighting 
system.  Would  you  believe  it?  they  hold 


"SALT    OF    THE    EARTH"       215 

"real"  regular  services  in  this  Chapel;  and  on  the 
3d  of  every  July  there  is  a  special  mass,  attended 
by  scores  of  people,  some  of  whom  come  long  dis- 
tances. Then  there  are  other  shrines  and  temples. 
Perhaps  the  finest  of  these  is  Queen's  Chapel, 
which,  in  addition  to  its  splendid  altar  of  salt, 
exhibits  on  one  wall  a  realistic  view  of  Bethle- 
hem, carved  in  salt,  while  overhead  hangs  an 
elaborate  salt  chandelier. 

In  the  second  level  you  will  come  upon  the 
Michelowitz  Chamber.  This  is  an  immense  room 
approximately  ninety  feet  square,  with  a  ceiling 
118  feet  up.  The  chamber  has  remarkable 
acoustic  properties.  You  can  utter  the  lowest 
whisper,  and  a  friend  at  the  farthest  opposite 
corner  will  hear  your  words  as  though  his  ear 
were  at  your  very  lips. 

The  third  level  contains  a  salt  railway  station. 
Here  the  twenty-five  miles  of  mine  tracks  have 
their  upper  terminal.  It  is  as  busy  a  little  station 
as  you  will  find  at  a  good-sized  junction  town 
above  ground  almost  anywhere  in  the  country. 
There  are  always  miners  and  visitors  waiting  on 
the  salt  platform  or  in  the  salt  seats  in  the  sta- 
tion, for  a  train  to  come  or  go.  At  the  same  time 
others  will  be  found  in  the  restaurant-room,  par- 
taking of  refreshments  and  chatting  gaily.  When 
you  hear  the  rumble  of  an  approaching  train  in 
the  tunnel  near  by,  hear  its  wailing,  echoing 


216      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

shriek,  and  note  its  twinkling  lights  coming 
toward  you  and  growing  bigger  and  bigger  like 
expanding  eyeballs  of  fire,  you  shrink  just  a 
little  closer  to  your  guide,  then  laugh  at  your 
foolishness  as  nearness  makes  the  coming  monster 
take  on  a  familiar,  friendly  aspect. 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  "dry"  features  of  the 
mine,  there  are  sixteen  subterranean  lakes  which 
lap  salty  shores  within  its  confines.  Of  course 
these  bodies  are  all  intensely  salty,  and  while 
people  bathe  in  them  the  water  is  not  fit  to  drink 
or  use  for  cooking.  The  larger  one  of  the  lakes 
is  navigated  by  a  ferryboat,  which  is  hauled  from 
shore  to  shore  by  means  of  a  rope. 


XV 
SOME  RARE  MINERALS 

THE  world's  minerals  are  constantly  chang- 
ing, constantly  becoming  something  else. 
Therefore  from  a  comparatively  few  "raw" 
materials  to  begin  with,  the  world  is  able  to  find 
these  substances  in  various  stages  of  develop- 
ment, each  stage  having  its  own  peculiar  value 
to  the  peoples  who  unearth  them  and  make  use 
of  them.  But  that  is  not  all.  There  are  many 
of  these  ores  which  would  be  absolutely  without 
value  when  used  alone,  and  their  wonderful  possi- 
bilities never  would  have  been  known  had  not 
man  experimented  with  them  in  his  laboratory, 
and  made  scientific  investigations,  as  a  result  of 
which  he  found  that  by  mixing  or  alloying  them 
with  other  mediums  he  could  produce  something 
of  great  usefulness  to  his  fellow-beings. 

For  instance,  the  miners  who  worked  the  Corn- 
stock  silver  mine  (which  we  have  spoken  of  else- 
where), in  its  early  days,  threw  on  the  "waste 
dump"  the  mineral  cerusite,  a  lead  carbonate 
which  is  now  valued  at  more  than  a  thousand  dol- 
lars a  ton.  In  this  and  other  Colorado  metal 
mines,  the  early  miners,  not  knowing  what  they 

217 


218      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

were  doing,  threw  away  the  valuable  tungsten 
portion  of  their  ores.  After  the  same  manner,  it 
was  not  until  quite  recently  that  pitchblende  was 
known  to  contain  those  important  constituents, 
uranium  and  radium,  the  latter  especially  valued 
to-day  for  its  wonderful  usefulness  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  malignant  diseases  which  afflict 
people. 

Altogether  there  are  two  values  placed  upon  a 
mineral — scientific  and  economic.  The  scientific 
value  depends  largely  upon  the  scarceness  or 
rarity  of  a  mineral.  The  economic  value,  on  the 
other  hand,  depends  wholly  upon  the  usefulness 
to  mankind  of  any  part  of  a  mineral.  All  rare 
minerals  have  both  a  scientific  and  an  economical 
value.  Some  of  the  more  important  of  these  will 
be  considered  in  this  chapter. 

ALUMINUM 

Some  years  ago  there  was  a  college  boy  who 
read  about  an  interesting  metal  called  "alumi- 
num," which  had  been  discovered  in  France.  A 
French  chemist,  by  taking  common  clay  which 
exists  in  vast  quantities  almost  everywhere,  had 
succeeded  in  producing  by  some  secret  means  a 
wonderful  metal  with  the  strength  of  iron,  the 
toughness  of  copper,  and  almost  the  lightness  of 
pine  wood.  This  aluminum  was  said  to  be  by 
far  the  lightest  of  all  known  metals.  It  was  of  a 


SOME   RARE   MINERALS       219 

whitish  color,  with  a  faint  tinge  of  blue,  and 
looked  much  like  tin.  Moisture  could  not  make 
it  rust,  however,  like  tin  and  iron.  The  boy  read 
that  the  new  metal  had  been  used  in  France  for 
making  jewelry,  and  that  a  rattle  made  of  it  had 
been  presented  to  the  baby  son  of  the  Emperor 
of  France  as  a  great  rarity. 

This  college  boy,  whose  name  was  Hall, 
thought  by  day  and  dreamed  by  night  of  this 
strange  aluminum,  made  from  so  simple  a  sub- 
stance as  clay — or  alumina,  as  the  scientists  love 
to  call  clay.  The  papers  said  the  cost  of  pro- 
ducing aluminum  was  $90  a  pound.  The  boy 
knew  this  was  too  costly  a  process  ever  to  make 
the  metal  really  useful,  for  common  people  could 
never  afford  to  buy  it.  So  he  wondered  if  some 
new  way  could  not  be  found  in  which  to  take 
clay  and  produce  the  same  result  by  a  cheaper 
method. 

When  this  young  man  graduated,  even  the 
pleasure  of  receiving  his  diploma  could  not  keep 
his  mind  away  from  aluminum.  In  fact,  an  idea 
came  to  him,  and  he  obtained  the  use  of  the  col- 
lege laboratory,  and  set  to  work.  For  almost  a 
whole  year  he  tried  mixing  clay  with  various  sub- 
stances in  an  effort  to  produce  the  desired  result. 
But  it  was  no  use — there  was  no  aluminum.  At 
length  he  tried  a  stone  from  distant  Greenland 
called  "cryolite,"  which  had  already  been  used 


220      SECRETS  OP  THE  EARTH 

for  making  a  kind  of  porcelain.  This  stone  melts 
very  easily.  To  his  unbounded  delight  he  found 
that  the  clay  and  the  cryolite  fused  together  in 
just  the  manner  he  wanted,  when  he  passed  an 
electric  current  through  them,  the  molten  clay 
melting  the  cryolite,  the  clay  being  decomposed 
by  the  current.  At  the  negative  electrode,  the 
compounded  molten  aluminum  ran  down  to  the 
bottom  of  the  crucible,  and  here  young  Hall  was 
able  to  draw  it  off  through  a  tap-hole.  The 
positive  electrode  was  composed  of  heavy  carbon 
plates  or  cylinders,  and  here  oxygen  was  set  free. 

Triumph  had  come  at  last.  This  young  man, 
just  out  of  college,  had  not  had  his  dreams  in 
vain.  Dreams  and  hard  work  together  had  per- 
formed the  miracle,  just  as  they  will  ever  per- 
form miracles  in  the  future  for  those  who  apply 
them  properly.  A  process  had  been  discovered, 
in  this  particular  instance,  for  reducing  the  cost 
of  aluminum  production  from  $90  to  20  cents  a 
pound.  What  a  benefaction  to  man! 

Only  a  few  months  later  a  Frenchman,  who 
had  also  been  quietly  working  away  at  the  same 
problem,  made  the  same  discovery.  This  man — 
Heroult,  by  name — obtained  patents  in  his  own 
country,  while  young  Hall  covered  the  rights  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada. 

The  clay  from  which  aluminum  is  made  is  now 
called  "bauxite,"  and  in  this  country  is  found 


SOME    RARE    MINERALS       221 

chiefly  in  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Arkansas. 
Mining  it  is  much  more  agreeable  than  coal  or 
iron  mining,  for  all  the  work  is  done  above 
ground,  as  sand  or  gravel  is  taken  out  of  the 
quarries  you  have  seen. 

When  bauxite  is  purified  the  result  is  a  fine 
white  powder  which  is  pure  alumina,  consisting 
of  the  unformed  metal,  aluminum,  and  the  gas, 
oxygen.  Aluminum  element  is  found  not  only  in 
clay,  and  indeed  in  most  rocks,  except  sandstone 
and  limestone,  but  also  in  several  of  the  precious 
stones.  In  fact  the  oxide  of  aluminum  is  known  to 
the  chemist  as  "alumina,"  to  the  mineralogist  as 
"corundum,"  to  the  jeweler  as  ruby  and  sapphire, 
and  to  the  lapidarist  as  emery.  We  may  stake 
a  good  deal  that  you  never  imagined  before  that 
the  tiny  jewel  bearing  in  your  watch  which  makes 
it  run  so  accurately,  the  grit  in  the  wheel  on 
which  you  sharpened  your  chisel  in  the  manual- 
training  room  of  your  school,  the  material  of 
which  your  mother's  choicest  kitchen  metal- 
ware  is  made,  all  came  from  the  simple  clay 
which  children  in  the  kindergarten  pummel  about 
into  various  images. 

The  uses  of  aluminum  are  constantly  increas- 
ing. It  is  a  good  conductor  of  electricity,  and 
sometimes  takes  the  place  of  copper  wire  in  the 
construction  of  electric  lines.  The  top  of  the 
famous  Washington  Monument  is  covered  with  a 


222      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

thin  sheet  of  aluminum,  which  is  connected  with 
a  lightning  rod,  to  protect  the  monument  from 
destruction  during  thunder  storms.  A  single 
ounce  of  the  metal,  put  into  a  ton  of  steel  when 
the  latter  is  being  poured  out,  will  drive  away 
the  gases  which  often  make  little  holes  in  cast- 
ings. Mixed  with  copper  it  makes  a  beautiful 
bronze  which  has  the  yellow  gleam  of  gold. 
When  a  piece  of  jewelry  which  looks  like  gold 
is  offered  to  you  at  too  low  a  price  to  be  real 
gold,  the  chances  are  that  it  is  aluminum  bronze, 
very  pretty  at  first,  but  very  likely  to  tarnish 
and  lose  its  luster  before  long.  Aluminum  also 
alloys  splendidly  with  silver.  Mixed  with  a  very 
little  bit  of  the  precious  metal,  the  whole  mass 
looks  like  silver  and  will  deceive  most  people. 

With  so  many  good  qualities  and  so  few  bad 
ones,  it  is  small  wonder  that  aluminum  is  em- 
ployed for  more  purposes  than  can  be  counted. 
Thirty  years  ago  it  was  an  interesting  curiosity, 
but  now  it  is  one  of  the  most-worked  metals. 
Automobiles  and  air-planes  owe  much  of  their 
success  and  efficiency  to  it.  Engine  cases  for 
them,  frames,  gear  cases,  fenders,  hoods,  bodies, 
all  owe  their  light  features  to  its  employment. 
Travelers,  soldiers,  and  campers,  prefer  alu- 
minum dishes  to  those  made  of  heavier  materials. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem  this  accommodating  ma- 
terial is  even  used  for  "wallpaper,"  threads  of 


SOME    RARE   MINERALS       223 

it  being  combined  with  silk  to  give  a  specially 
brilliant  effect  in  stage  settings.  Equally  as 
strange,  it  can  be  made  into  a  paint  which  will 
protect  iron  from  rust,  and  woodwork  from  burn- 
ing so  quickly. 

TUNGSTEN 

You  probably  know  tungsten  best  for  its  use 
in  the  filaments  of  modern  incandescent  electric 
lamps.  When  made  of  this  valuable  metal,  the 
filaments  are  twice  as  durable  as  the  old  carbon 
filaments,  give  a  much  superior  quality  of  white 
light,  and  consume  less  than  half  as  much  elec- 
tricity. Thousands  of  filaments  can  be  made 
from  a  single  pound  of  tungsten,  so  that  while 
we  know  the  metal  best  in  this  way,  its  use 
therein  is  really  quite  limited  compared  to  its 
other  applications. 

For  example,  tungsten  salts  are  utilized  in 
the  arts.  Tungstate  of  sodium  is  used  in  photog- 
raphy. Tungsten  is  employed  for  fireproofing 
theater  curtains,  cloth,  etc.  It  is  also  used  in 
dyeing,  being  a  powerful  mordant  which  forms 
an  insoluble  compound  with  any  coloring  matter, 
and  holds  it  within  the  tissues  of  the  fabric. 

But  the  chief  economic  use  of  tungsten  is  as 
an  alloy  with  other  metals,  such  as  iron,  alu- 
minum, steel,  etc.  An  alloy  of  aluminum  and 
tungsten,  known  as  "partinium,"  is  used  in  the 


224      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

construction  of  airships  and  automobiles.  It  was 
much  employed  by  the  Germans  in  the  late  war 
in  the  construction  of  the  great  frameworks  of 
their  Zeppelins. 

An  alloy  of  tungsten  and  its  sister  metal, 
molybdenum,  is  a  good  substitute  for  platinum, 
and  for  some  purposes  is  said  to  be  better. 

The  most  important  as  well  as  the  most  gen- 
eral use  of  tungsten  is  as  an  alloy  of  steel.  This 
metal  is  to  the  steel  industry  what  copper  is  to 
the  electrical  world,  and  possibly  even  more. 
Steel  containing  5  to  6  per  cent  tungsten  is 
very  hard  and  tough,  though  still  workable.  By 
putting  10  per  cent  in  it  the  steel  is  rendered  so 
hard  that  it  cannot  be  worked  in  a  lathe  and  must 
therefore  be  forged  or  ground  to  shape.  Tung- 
sten steel  is  highly  magnetic,  not  easily  rusted, 
and  requires  no  tempering  or  annealing.  A  ma- 
chine equipped  with  tungsten-steel  tools  will  do 
more  work  than  five  similar  machines  using  car- 
bon-steel tools.  Tungsten-steel  drills,  by  hold- 
ing their  temper  when  red-hot,  can  be  run  at 
many  times  greater  speed  than  ordinary  drills. 
For  bridge  building  and  the  erection  of  modern 
sky-scraper  city  buildings,  tungsten-steel  has 
been  found  to  be  the  most  dependable  for 
girders. 

The  World  War  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the 
use  of  tungsten.  Steel  made  of  it  was  used  in 


SOME   RARE   MINERALS       225 

the  manufacture  of  high-powered  siege  and  field 
guns;  it  was  employed  in  hardening  armor- 
piecing  shells,  and  in  producing  armor-plate  for 
tanks  and  war  vessels. 

Tungsten  is  not  found  as  a  pure  metal.  The 
truth  is,  if  you  were  to  know  the  metal  by  sight 
and  feeling  ever  so  well,  you  would  not  recognize, 
in  the  fine  gray  powder  from  which  it  is  made, 
any  connection  or  relationship.  To  form  the 
solid  metal  the  powder  is  reduced  with  aluminum 
filings,  and  also  by  fusing  with  charcoal  in  spe- 
cial furnaces.  The  metal  thus  produced  is  of  a 
steel-gray  color,  malleable,  but  hard  enough  to 
scratch  glass.  It  is  not  easily  acted  upon  by 
mineral  acids,  and  is  stronger  than  either  iron 
or  nickel.  It  is  so  ductile  that  it  can  be  drawn 
into  the  finest  wire. 

Tungsten  is  classed  as  an  "acid  mineral."  The 
principal  basic  elements  associated  with  it  are 
calcium,  iron,  manganese  and  lead.  In  the  be- 
ginning, when  tungsten  minerals  were  discovered 
in  1781,  they  were  thought  to  exist  in  only  a  few 
favored  countries,  and  within  a  small  area;  but 
during  recent  years  they  have  been  found  in 
almost  every  mining  country  on  the  globe.  How- 
ever, no  vast  deposits  have  been  unearthed  any- 
where. As  a  rule  the  deposits  are  very  spare, 
occurring  in  small  stringers  of  the  pure  minerals, 
or  in  lodes  carrying  other  metals  or  minerals. 


226      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

It  takes  about  3,080  degrees  C.  to  melt  tung- 
sten, which  is  one  of  the  highest  melting  points 
required  by  any  metal. 

PLATINUM 

This  metal  was  first  taken  to  Europe  in  the 
year  1735  from  Colombia,  South  America.  Be- 
ing a  white  metal,  resembling  silver  in  appear- 
ance, it  was  called  platina  in  Spanish,  plata 
being  the  Spanish  name  for  silver.  It  is,  how- 
ever, much  heavier  than  silver,  and  is  with  the 
exception  of  two  extremely  rare  minerals,  iridium 
and  osmium,  the  heaviest  of  all  substances 
known.  It  is  fusible  with  other  metals  only  with 
great  difficulty,  and  is  very  resistant  to  acids. 

These  latter  properties  make  the  metal  in- 
valuable for  the  construction  of  certain  kinds  of 
chemical  apparatus,  such  as  crucibles,  basins, 
wire  and  foil.  Platinum  is  of  rare  occurrence, 
and  owing  to  the  very  limited  supply,  the  price 
is  constantly  rising.  At  one  time  during  the 
late  war  it  went  as  high  as  $100  an  ounce,  but  is 
now  somewhat  lower,  owing  to  increased  supply 
and  a  falling  off  in  demand.  Formerly  the  metal 
was  made  into  coins  in  Russia,  but  this  soon 
ceased  as  the  value  of  it  mounted  far  above  that 
of  gold. 

Native  platinum  is  found  as  grains  and  small 
nuggets  in  the  beds  of  streams.  Practically  the 


SOME   RARE    MINERALS       227 

whole  of  the  metal  used  commercially  comes  from 
the  Ural  Mountains.  So  ductile  is  this  extremely 
heavy  substance  that  it  has  been  drawn  into  wire 
so  fine  that  a  mile's  length  weighs  only  a  single 
grain!  It  is  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
fine  jewelry,  in  making  electrical,  photographic, 
dental  and  surgical  supplies,  as  well  as  munitions 
of  war. 

RADIUM 

While  radium  is  a  metal  it  is  never  found  or 
prepared  in  metallic  form.  It  can  be  reduced  to 
this  condition,  but  there  would  be  sure  to  be  some 
loss  of  the  constituents,  as  the  substance  oxidizes 
rapidly,  and  is  soon  lost  in  the  air,  vanishing  like 
a  ghost.  As  the  mineral  has  such  a  fabulous 
value,  and  is  so  hard  to  get  even  in  the  smallest 
quantities,  chemists  must  do  everything  in  their 
power,  you  see,  to  prevent  any  loss  of  material. 

For  this  reason  radium  is  usually  prepared 
either  in  the  form  of  chloride  or  as  a  bromide, 
which  conserves  the  element  so  that  it  will  last 
indefinitely  and  without  any  apparent  loss.  It 
is  very  difficult  and  dangerous  to  handle  because 
of  its  wonderful  and  mysterious  penetrating 
powers,  the  cause  of  which  no  man  has  yet  been 
able  to  explain,  trained  in  science  though  he  be. 
In  its  pure  state,  looking  much  like  salt  and 
equally  as  harmless,  it  is  one  of  the  biggest  de- 


228      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

ceivers  that  ever  was.  It  will  quickly  destroy 
the  life  in  seeds.  Should  you  take  a  tube  con- 
taining it  in  your  bare  hand,  though  it  never 
touched  you  its  intense  violet  rays  would  cause 
ugly  and  painful  sores  to  appear  on  the  hand. 

Radium  gives  off  a  slight  light,  but  its  real 
activity  is  learned  only  through  the  effects  it 
produces.  It  gives  off  enough  heat  to  melt  its 
own  weight  of  ice  every  hour,  or  to  raise  its  own 
weight  of  water  from  the  freezing  to  the  boiling 
point.  When  a  tube  of  radium  is  placed  on  a 
surface  coated  with  sulphide  of  zinc,  or  some 
other  similar  substance,  the  surface  becomes  lumi- 
nous. It  discharges  electrified  bodies,  and  makes 
any  gas  on  which  it  acts  a  conductor  of  electricity. 
If  a  photographic  plate  is  wrapped  in  black 
paper,  and  an  opaque  object,  such  as  a  penny, 
is  coated  with  radium  and  laid  upon  the  paper 
with  the  coated  side  up,  a  picture  of  the  penny 
will  be  made  upon  the  plate. 

Altogether,  radium  is  easily  the  most  wonder- 
ful and  costly  metal  which  old  Mother  Nature 
has  let  us  get  our  fingers  on  in  the  pocket  of  her 
rugged  apron.  It  is  valued  at  $9,000,000  a 
pound.  A  glass  tube  of  this  substance,  which  is 
no  larger  around  than  a  straw,  and  no  longer 
than  a  pin,  is  worth  $4,000.  Very  recently  the 
State  of  New  York  purchased  two  and  one- 
quarter  grams  of  radium,  in  behalf  of  the  State 


SOME    RARE    MINERALS       229 

Institute  for  Malignant  Disease,  at  a  cost  of 
$225,000.  The  metal  is  to  be  used  by  the  Insti- 
tute in  research  work  and  the  cure  of  some  of  its 
patients.  It  took  twenty-one  cars  to  carry  the 
625  tons  of  carnotite  ore,  from  which  this  small 
amount  of  radium  was  gleaned,  from  the  mines 
in  the  Colorado  desert.  An  equal  bulk  of  coal 
and  chemicals  was  employed  in  the  process  of 
extraction. 

Carnotite  occurs  with  pitchblende  in  Paradox 
Valley,  Colorado,  in  amorphous  masses.  It  is 
a  new  mineral,  named  after  the  French  scientist, 
Carnot,  and  is  mainly  confined  to  the  limits  of 
the  United  States.  Its  color  is  a  rich  yellow  or 
orange.  It  usually  occurs  in  white  or  gray  sand- 
stone, and  is  often  found  with  copper  or  silver 
ores.  Quite  the  opposite  in  looks  is  pitchblende. 
This  is  an  ugly  black  mineral  bearing  some  re- 
semblance to  pitch.  It  is  remarkable  in  having 
strong  radio-active  properties;  that  is,  it  is  con- 
stantly emitting  invisible  rays  of  light,  which 
make  the  air  a  conductor  of  electricity.  For  in- 
stance, if  a  piece  of  pitchblende  is  placed  near  a 
charged  gold-leaf  electroscope,  the  charge  of 
electricity  rapidly  escapes,  and  the  gold-leaves 
fall  together. 

It  was  these  peculiar  properties  of  pitchblende 
which  led  Professor  and  Madame  Curie,  the  dis- 
coverers of  radium,  to  separate  from  the  ore  the 


230      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

particular  elements — radium  and  polonium — to 
which  these  special  effects  of  pitchblende  are  due. 
This  was  in  1898,  in  Paris.  The  most  productive 
mines  of  pitchblende  are  those  at  Joachimsthal, 
in  Bohemia,  although  it  is  also  found  in  some  of 
the  Cornish  mines.  The  feldspar  quarries  of 
southern  Norway  produce  it  in  small  cubic 
crystals,  embedded  in  the  feldspar. 

But  carnotite  has  become  in  the  last  few  years 
the  chief  ore  supply  of  radium,  and  the  whole 
world  looks  to  our  own  Colorado  and  Utah  for 
most  of  this  valuable  mineral. 

The  manufacture  of  radium  is  a  long,  tedious 
chemical  process,  complicated  by  many  diffi- 
culties, and  requiring  special  care  and  skill. 
Previous  to  1912  there  were  no  laboratories  for 
its  production  in  the  United  States,  and  the  car- 
notite was  sent  to  Europe.  In  that  year  the 
United  States  Government  established  a  labora- 
tory at  Denver,  and  since  that  time  this  institu- 
tion has  successfully  extracted  such  radium  as 
we  have  used,  employing  new  and  better  pro- 
cesses than  those  which  had  existed  heretofore. 

The  action  of  radium  upon  the  tissues  of  the 
human  body  makes  it  a  valuable  agent  in  the 
treatment  of  cancer  in  its  first  stages,  for  the  re- 
moval of  scars,  warts  and  corns,  and  in  the  treat- 
ment of  that  form  of  goiter  which  causes  the  eyes 
to  protrude  from  their  sockets.  The  radium  may 


SOME    RARE    MINERALS       231 

be  applied  directly  to  the  part  to  be  treated,  or 
it  may  be  given  internally  in  diluted  solution. 
But  it  is  safe  only  in  the  hands  of  experts  who 
understand  its  whims  through  long  experience. 

MERCURY 

"Quicksilver"  is  the  common  name  for  the 
element  mercury.  It  is  a  silver- white  metal,  13.5 
times  heavier  than  water;  it  flows  freely,  and 
when  spilled  is  about  the  most  difficult  thing  to 
recover  you  ever  saw,  evading  the  touch  of  every- 
thing except  that  on  which  it  lies.  It  is  the  only 
metal  which  is  a  liquid  at  ordinary  temperatures. 
At  37.9  degrees  F.  below  zero  it  freezes  and  be- 
comes solid;  at  675  degrees  F.  it  changes  to  va- 
por. When  heated  or  cooled  it  expands  or  con- 
tracts quickly  and  at  a  very  regular  rate.  For 
this  reason  it  is  especially  valuable  for  making 
thermometers,  and  mirrors,  in  which  guises  it  is 
probably  most  familiar  to  us. 

Mercury  is  most  extensively  used  for  extract- 
ing gold  and  silver  from  ores.  But  it  is  also  used 
extensively  in  the  arts.  Its  compound  with 
chlorine  is  widely  used  as  a  medicine  under  the 
name  of  "calomel."  Another  compound  with 
chlorine  is  the  well-known  and  exceedingly 
poisonous  "corrosive  sublimate,"  often  used  as 
an  antiseptic.  "Vermilion,"  another  compound, 
with  sulphur,  is  used  in  some  red  paints.  Mer- 


232      SECRETS  OF  THE  EARTH 

cury  is  largely  employed  also  in  the  manufacture 
of  explosive  caps,  both  for  blasting  purposes  and 
in  the  production  of  cartridges  used  in  small  fire- 
arms as  well  as  large  fieldpleces.  Dentists  use 
it,  electricians  value  it,  barometer  manufacturers 
could  not  get  along  without  it.  And  what  would 
the  mirror  makers  ever  do  without  it? 

Mercury  occurs  native,  but  only  in  small 
quantities.  Most  of  it  is  taken  from  the  ore  cin- 
nabar, which  in  a  pure  state  contains  86.2  per 
cent  of  mercury  and  13.8  per  cent  of  sulphur. 
The  crystals  of  cinnabar  are  often  transparent 
with  a  deep-red  color  and  brilliant  luster.  The 
mercury  occurs  in  the  ore  in  the  form  of  little 
globules  of  liquid  embedded  here  and  there  in 
its  surface. 

Mercury  is  obtained  by  roasting  the  ore  in  a 
current  of  air.  This  heating  process  drives  off 
the  sulphur,  which  combines  with  the  oxygen  of 
the  air  to  form  a  gas,  thus  leaving  the  mercury 
free.  Spain,  Mexico,  and  the  United  States  pro- 
duce most  of  the  world's  supply.  The  chief 
mines  of  this  country  are  near  San  Francisco. 

THE  END 


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